The Human Element Book II: Synthesis of a New Life
by NoobFish
Summary: After freeing herself from the shackles of the past with her blond knight, and helping to save her knight’s flame haired love, Shego realizes she can start afresh. But old ghosts are hard to bury, and starting over may be harder than she ever expected.
1. Chapter 1

Standard Disclaimer Applies (SDA)

* * *

Kim found herself pacing in the living room, occasionally stopping to take peaks out of the window to see whether her boyfriend, Ron Stoppable, had arrived. She had only called him no more than fifteen minutes ago, and told him that it was urgent and that he should get to her place immediately.

She sighed, as she paced impatiently across the room. It wasn't really about the fact that she was needy, she consoled herself. It wasn't even really about the urgency that Dr. Betty Director of Global Justice had put in a direct request to her, by calling her personally over her Kimmunicator, to come in as soon as possible. It wasn't about the fact that she had just only been discharged from the hospital a week ago, over something that had made her realize how vulnerable she actually could be.

It was just that she needed Ron, now.

Sweeping her hair back with her fingers, she tried to sit down and wait quietly for his arrival. She reminded herself that he lived only ten minutes away, and that she should give him a little time to put on fresh clothes. She knew that Ron would also make sure Rufus got a slice of cheese. Just maybe she was being a little over anxious.

Her right hand shot out immediately to grip her leg, to quell the shaking that had started there. It wasn't intentional, it was just a reflex. Yes, she was anxious, that's all. _No big,_ she thought, making sure she stated her normal catch phrase to herself as powerfully as she could. _I'm __alright,_she continued to herself,_ I haven't been affected one bit at all by last week's __sitch_

"Last week's sitch, huh?" She grated out loud to no one in particular.

It was hard for her to remember the beginning of it all, the last two months passed by in a whirl. For her, maybe it all started with her kidnapping? No, it clearly went further back than that. She snapped her fingers in realization, it all started when _she_ came into their lives.

A little over two months ago, Drakken pulled another hare-brained scheme that almost got Ron killed. Kim found herself still flexing her knuckles at the thought of it. It was a miracle that he survived the cave in. While Kim wasn't normally a religious person but at that moment, she felt ready to fall on her knees and sing to the hymns of angels, wonderful praises to the God that had let Ron live.

Somehow, it probably was a little twist of a cosmic joke, that irked Kim to no end, that not just Ron survived, but the person that directly almost caused his death did too.

_Shego._

Not only did Shego survive, but she managed to worm her way into Ron's life, quickly gaining acceptance among the Stoppables, and even with her mother, Anne Possible. Then Shego had somehow gotten Ron to help her put a dangerous villain behind bars… _No wait, that piece of _shit_ Reggie shot __himself,_ Kim mentally corrected herself, not caring about the crass manner with which she'd cursed the dead man. She shuddered at the thought of that leering man who'd kidnapped her in an attempt to get to Ron and Shego. While she was sick when she heard of his suicide, she didn't find it in her heart to sympathize with the man that had raped Shego, and almost raped her.

Almost raped her... The thought bounced around in Kim's head as she unwillingly thought back to that night. The memories had been fleeting the first few days of her stay in the hospital. But now, nearly a week and a half later, and barely three days after her hospital stay, the memories were, to her horror, mostly intact. She had tried her best to put them behind her, but they kept coming back, each time more vivid than the last. They also had a tendency to hit her at the most unexpected times.

_Like now._

The scene would blur before her eyes, and then a tall slimy man and an equally vile platinum blond woman would slither into her mind's eye. They both swivel their heads to realize that she's finally awake, and the man sported a malicious grin as he sauntered up to her, drawing her chin up to have a good look on her face…

He gloated to her, like all villains did. But this time he went a little further than any villain had. The phantom pinprick of the hypo made her flinch, as tears springing to her eyes at the memory. He hit her, once, twice, she didn't care to count after that. He could have continued beating her for all she cared. She wished he hadn't stop, because in all her memories, when he stopped…

He leaned his face in towards her own bruised face, brushing his thumb tenderly over her swelling eye, crooned his smooth words, and leaned his lips in to capture hers. And she kissed him back…

Kim stood up with an incoherent shriek, suddenly realizing that she was back in her own house, in her own living room. She spun around wildly looking for the loud wheezing of air in the room, before realizing that it was her own panicked breathing.

"I didn't kiss him," Kim denied to herself with that same stubborn attitude when she first declared she could do anything. "I didn't…" She faltered for a moment as the vivid memory hit her again, his lips on hers. Or was it her lips on his? She clutched her temples in pain, and shook her head to clear herself of that thought. She dare not close her eyes, lest she found herself transported back to that room and he still stood over her…

"Drugs," Kim muttered angrily to herself. "It's those drugs… It wasn't me… I didn't kiss him."

A deep pain stabbed her heart that made her flinch, as she was struck by another wave of painful realizations. An inner voice that maliciously sounded like Reggie's echoed_You liked it, didn't you? You liked it because you're a whore. You're __my__ whore... No, you're anyone's whore… You __wanted to do that__, didn't you? __Pucker your lips and spread your legs for any guy… __That's right, you're just a worthless, sullied little whore that no one wants, and you always have been, haven't you?_

"No!" Kim frantically shrieked as she pulled at her hair, wanting to slam her head into the coffee table, the wall, or even a window; anything to block out the voice. "I'm not a whore… I love Ron… Ron loves me... I love Ron…" She found her own arms clutching herself in a tight embrace, wishing those were the arms of her boyfriend, as she kept on repeating those words. "I love Ron… Ron loves me... I love Ron…"

She felt tears creeping from under eyelids she didn't remember closing, still trying to force the images from her mind. She imagined Ron's voice whispering sweet nothings to her, that, indeed, she was not a whore, and was beautiful, not sullied by a sickening monster. She imagined his lips caressing her cheek, forehead, and eventually her lips, chasing her fears and self doubt away as her breathing returned to normal.

"Just another flashback," she mumbled out loud, trying to sound convincing to the empty room. "Just a nightmare… I'll be fine… I love Ron and Ron loves me… Everything's all right in this world." Slowly the flashbacks ebbed, and she let out a tentative sigh as she slumped back on the couch, hoping that she'd forget about this soon.

Kim forced herself to think of something else and wondered if, somehow, after the rollercoaster ride of highs and lows of the past two months, that was the end of it all. Not only did she find out what a wonderful boyfriend Ron was when he braved bullets and explosions to save her, she also found out that Shego had a change of heart, all but renouncing a life of crime officially, apparently all thanks to Ron. Shego's change of heart would have been great for Kim, except for two things: one being that Shego had moved into her boyfriend's house. And two: this same woman had developed a major crush on Ron.

_She said she loved him… _

"Please let it just be a crush!" Kim begged aloud softly. She thought of the other times when girls were interested in her Ron. "Maybe Shego will be like Tara… I mean, Ron did help her quite a bit, she should move on once she finds someone else, just like Tara did."

Through her mind, she ran through her checklist of why Ron should love her and not Shego. First of all, most importantly, they grew up together, from the tender age of four. Second, she'd always been there for him. Maybe not always, there were lapses in friendship, but mostly there. Third, she loves him. V_ery much_, she added. Fourth, she's… She's… Kim threw up her hands in frustration.

"I'm grasping at straws!"

She stood up and glanced at her reflection in the hallway mirror. She stood on her toes, sucked in her breath and held it there, trying to imagine that maybe if she was a little thinner, a little taller. _Maybe a little bustier too_, as she used her hands to add a little support. Her mind wandered to the possibility of talking her mom into letting her have breast enlargement surgery. _M__aybe a C-cup, like Shego's_. She grinned for a moment, wondering if she should head out with a little padding this time… Just to gauge Ron's reaction…

A screeching wail of tires broke through Kim's mental make-over session, and she leapt towards the curtain and saw a silver car drift into her driveway, leaving a nice set of clear skid marks and the unpleasant smell of burnt rubber in its wake, before abruptly braking inches from her garage door.

"What the…" Kim cursed out loud as she threw open the front door, ready to give that maniacal driver a piece of her mind. She had just opened her mouth to start her tirade, when suddenly she saw a ruffled blonde mop of hair with that ever-so-present, in an annoying but cute way, cow-lick that she could spot out among a throng of Middleton High students. "Ron?" she asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Heya KP!" Ron chirped cheerfully as he almost lost his balance getting out of the car. "Woah!"

Just before Kim could leap to her boyfriend's rescue, a black and green shadow slid out from the driver's seat and in a flash, leaped over the hood of the car, and caught him by the waist to steady him.

Ron looked at his rescuer with a huge smile and said, "Thanks Shego, I guess I'm still a little woozy from the ride… It was way badical! Like the Thundering Typhoon at the Middleton fair, only cooler!"

"No big," Shego replied with a warm smile, unconsciously stealing one of Kim's trademarked catchphrases.

"Ah-_hem_!" Kim cleared her throat loudly as her bright green eyes bore holes through a certain green-skinned hand wrapped around her boyfriend's waist, a little too closely to her boyfriend's goods.

"Hey, KP!" Ron sunnily greeted her again, as he slid out of a really awkward position as if not even realizing it. He wrapped his arms around his stiff girlfriend, before giving her a peck on the cheek. "So what's the emergency?"

"Hang on a minute, Rocket Boy!" Kim growled hostilely in his ear. "What's that?" She pushed her boyfriend aside, but definitely not in the direction of a certain ex-villainess currently dressed in a pair of black leather pants with a light green jacket and a white tee-shirt underneath that looked just a bit too tight for her.

"That?" Ron asked in confusion. "That… Is a car!" He beamed proudly at Kim.

Kim rolled her eyes as Shego snickered at his antics. "I know that's a car!" Kim snapped in annoyance. Whose is it and where did it come from?"

"Kim, that's a MAZDASPEED6 Grand Touring sedan," Shego intoned proudly as she drew her fingers of the silver hood of the car. "And it's mine. I just bought it."

Kim's mouth gaped unceremoniously for a moment as she struggled to take in the facts. "Yours?" She stood back for a moment, giving the entire machine one good look-over. "It's… Nice…" She found herself grudgingly admitting that indeed it was a beautiful car.

"Just nice?" Ron trumpeted in amazement. "KP! It's awesome! For one thing, it's definitely not Sloth!" He referred to Kim's hand-me-down vehicle of choice, which was actually more of vehicle of desperation rather than choice.

"Really?" Kim's voice took on a steel-like quality which was lost on the childlike-wonder of her ever obtuse boyfriend.

"Yeah! I mean, well… Take away the modified jet engines, flight mode, cool electronic gadgets that Wade installed, and it's… It's a Sloth!" Ron declared with a grin. "And remember your dad let slip about that recall…"

"Hey, diss my car again, and you find yourself walking to school," Kim threatened a little too seriously than she intended.

"Heh, no problem," Ron replied a little too quickly, unaware of his imminent one way trip to the doghouse. "Shego offered to drive me to school on Monday."

For a moment, Kim saw nothing but red. All she was aware of is a dull throbbing in her temple as her breaths became shallow.

"Err… KP?" Ron's voice broke her trance-like state. "KP? Earth to KP? You okay?"

"I'm okay," Kim spat out in annoyance, before turning to Shego and asked with a voice seething with faux sweetness, "So where did you get the money to buy the car from? I didn't hear about any bank robberies today."

Shego raised her eyebrows at the sarcastic dig, but decided to let it go for now. "I just got paid."

"Paid?" Kim's jaw slackened. "Drakken?"

"Nope," Shego grinned mischievously. "Betts."

"Betts?" Kim's face screwed up in astonishment. "You mean, Dr. Director?"

"Uh huh," Shego remarked with a nod. She tried her best not to laugh at the ridiculous look on Kim's face, realizing that the red-head had likely been tweaked and surprised enough for the week. "Turns out I didn't collect my last paycheck and severance pay. Betts just held on to those for me, and the stock market's been good to her…"

"But… But…" Kim stuttered. "A car?"

"Hey, I wanted to give it to Jean, you know," Shego replied in her defense, as she crossed her arms. "Mostly as a way of saying thanks for putting up with me this past two months, and to replace the Volvo. There's no way I'd give her a car bought with stolen money…"

"Then why are you out joy-riding with it?" Kim's voice grated dangerously as her head swiveled towards her boyfriend who thought it was wise to keep his mouth shut for now. "Don't think I've forgotten that Thundering Typhoon comment. The way you two tore up my dad's driveway…"

Shego and Ron shared a guilty grin. "Sorry about that, KP," Ron apologized.

"Yeah, sorry," Shego mumbled. "It's just that Jean would have none of it, she doesn't want any payment for her hospitality. Plus, she's just waiting for the check from the insurance company before getting a new car. So she insisted I keep it instead."

"How convenient," Kim muttered under her breath. "Anyway, while you two were busy _risking_ your lives, Dr. Director would like us to see her immediately."

"Sure thing, KP," Ron nodded his head.

"Does that include me?" Shego asked.

"Yes," Kim replied coldly. "She personally requested for you and insisted that under all circumstance, you must show up or else she'd send the whole GJ after you."

"Ah dammit," Shego cursed under her breath. "She said that? I knew that check had strings attached. That damn bitch is way too sneaky for her own damned good. So like right now?"

Kim just nodded her head stiffly, eyeing the older woman.

"Dammit," Shego muttered. "I wonder if it's too late to return the car."

* * *

As Shego killed the engine, Ron opened the front passenger door and moved to the back door to hold it open for a sullen Kim. While it was one thing to hitch a ride with Shego, it was definitely a whole different matter to literally taking a backseat view of the friendly banter between her boyfriend and that of one green-and-black villainess. _Former villainess,_ she reminded herself, as hard as it was. It'd seem so natural, so perfect.

_Like I wasn't even there_ a nasty side of her mind whispered to her. Kim resolved that the two of them would no longer ride with Shego, and if the need arise, they'd be taking her Sloth instead, and Shego would be the one in the backseat.

Together, the three of them walked towards the unassuming office building that housed the world headquarters of Global Justice. Kim made sure to interject herself in that small space between her boyfriend and that woman, while gripping tightly onto her boyfriend's arm. Unconsciously, she raised her free hand to sweep her hair out of her eyes, before speaking out loud.

"I wonder what Dr. Director wants with you," she tried her best not to sound too accusatory.

"Probably to give me a medal of honor so that she can chain me to a Global Justice desk," Shego shrugged with a wry grin.

Kim half-snorted at the villainess' quip. _That wasn't funny at all…_

"Ooh… So that's why they give those out," Ron replied with a loud laugh.

"Nah, knowing Betts, she's going to give me the whole recruitment drive speech again," Shego remarked darkly. "She probably wants you two there to guilt and berate me into joining back up with her again."

"What's so bad about working for the good guys?" Kim asked neutrally.

"For one, villainy definitely pays better," Shego smirked. "If Betty was the head of Global Villainy, I'd have bought a Mercedes SL instead."

"Money isn't everything, you know," Kim replied a little hotly, as she made a small show of clinging onto Ron a little tighter.

Shego made no sign that she caught on, and coolly looked ahead as she replied, "Yeah, I know."

"Ah, Kim? Do you mind?" Ron pointed at his arm. "Not that I dislike you hugging me, but... Do you mind _not_ digging your fingernails into me? It still hurts even if you do it."

At that statement, Shego let out a loud hearty guffaw as Kim also caught onto Ron's innocent slip-up and blushed a deep tomato red. Wisely, Kim did not make any further attempts at conversation, and slightly loosened her grip on his arm.

The three of them made their way to the front receptionist and was directed to an elevator which would take them automatically the necessary floor. Despite the uncomfortably quiet journey, like always, Ron had managed to lighten the mood by providing some self-made elevator music as he hummed a few popular show tunes, much to the amusement of Kim and Shego.

Shego stood before the door of Dr. Betty Director's office and rapped her knuckles sharply.

"Come in!" Betty's voice barked out from behind the door.

"Morning, Betts," Shego greeted the one-eyed woman dressed in her regular blue Global Justice jumpsuit. "Something bit you in the ass this morning? You look in bad need of coffee."

"You can say that, Miss Go," Betty's tone immediately threw all sources of camaraderie and casual friendliness out the window. "Sit."

At her command, Kim and Ron instinctively moved to the chairs in front of Betty's desk, while Shego hovered just slightly behind the two, replying, "No thanks, I prefer to stand."

Eying Shego carefully for a long moment, Betty finally spoke up. "So do you know why you're here?"

"Shego said something about a medal of honor or desk job…" Ron replied before receiving a harsh elbow to the ribs from his ever-loving girlfriend who took it as her sole responsibility to prevent him from sticking his foot in his mouth.

Betty's good eye widened, before a low snarl emerged from her throat that was clearly directed at Shego, "Medal of honor? Desk job? The only medal or job you'd get is the one with the stamp of my boot on your ass."

"Hold it, Betts!" Shego retorted angrily back at the head of Global Justice. "What the hell is this about? You call us in here, start asking the questions and then rip into me like I've done something wrong. So what the hell is this about?"

"I ask the questions around here, Shego," Betty replied dangerously. "And while you're in _my_ office, you do not use that tone with me."

"Bitch!" Shego yelled at the woman. "I'm not going to take this bullshit!" She turned to walk out the door. As she tried to twist the door knob, she found the door was locked. Whirling to face Betty, Shego snarled out, "Okay, this is what I get for trying to be the nice, law abiding former villainess?"

"If you were trying to be nice, where were you six days ago?" Betty asked dangerously.

"I was meeting up with my younger brothers and, in case you forgot, _you_ over in Go City!" Shego shot back quickly.

"The entire day?"

"Obviously not! I was also looking for gifts for them after meeting up with you, Giddy and that FBI suit, and an old frie-…" she quickly fell silent. "What is this about?"

Without a word, Betty slid open the top drawer of her desk and pulled out three manila folders. Dumping them in front of Kim, Ron and Shego, she remarked, "Six days ago, while you were conveniently shopping in Go City, the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer was stolen from the Go City Dimensional Physics Laboratories."

Kim and Ron instantly turned to look at a gaping Shego. The green-skinned woman instantly reached forward and grabbed one of the folders, and flipped through it, glancing briefly at the reports and eyewitness accounts.

"Shego?" Kim called her name, her tone distinctly neutral.

"No way," the villainess spat out. "No fucking way! That wasn't me! That seriously wasn't me!"

"The job was done very professionally," Betty remarked coldly. "Only a handful of people in this world could have gotten past those security measures. And one of them is currently standing right here in front of me."

"What the? I sure as Hell did _not_ take the PDVI," Shego shouted angrily back at her accuser. "I mean, why would I do something like that?"

"Yeah, why would you?" Kim asked her questioningly.

"Oh, come on, Princess!" Shego groaned. "Not you too! Whoever it was, I didn't do it! And you!" She stabbed her finger angrily in Betty's direction. "You do not call me in here and start yelling at me and accusing me of things I did not do!"

"What's your plan, Shego?" Kim pressed on her questions. "Was this all a setup?"

"I can't believe you two!" Shego raged. "Look, I'm going to say it one last time. I did _not_ steal the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer! You think I'd have setup all that bullshit from Reggie down to my rape just so that I could steal that piece of crap? I could have done it in my sleep!"

"Exactly," Betty replied coldly. "You could have done it in your sleep. Or during a shopping trip to Go City."

"Betts," Shego clenched her teeth as she spat out her name. "This is low, even for you."

"I don't think she did it," Ron suddenly interrupted from his quiet side of the room.

"There! Finally! Someone believes me!" Shego half-yelled as she threw her hands up. "Thank you, Ron!"

"What?" Kim gasped as she turned to glare at her boyfriend.

"I just don't think she did it," Ron replied uncomfortably, as three pair of eyes quickly bore down on him. "I mean… Other than her professional thieving skills and the fact that she was in the area, what other proof do we have that she was the thief?"

Shego turned her gaze towards Betty as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently, "Well?"

Betty's demeanor changed to a calmer disposition, as she just shrugged and replied coolly, "I wanted to see if you were innocent."

Shego's jaw dropped as she gaped at the woman. "You mean you accused me based on circumstantial evidence that no judge in the country would dare allow in his courtroom?"

"I'd know if you were lying in a heartbeat," Betty remarked coolly as she turned her attention back to a report in front of her. "That's why I brought you in like this. Besides, I have people clamoring to bring you in for a full interrogation. I thought I could save everyone some time and paperwork by doing this."

"Betts, you have some nerve," Shego growled threateningly. "I should rip out your cold black heart…"

"Oh really, Shego?" Betty replied with a slight grin. "Shouldn't you be thanking me instead? We could have done this by protocol, you know. Lock you up for six hours, drug you up on sodium pentothal and then subject you to our not-so-friendly interrogation techniques?"

"I…" Shego gaped in surprise, not quite sure of a proper comeback.

"So don't you owe me a favor now?" Betty asked rhetorically, smiling and knowing that she has Shego sitting right in the palm of her hand.

"Damn you, Betts," Shego grumbled. "For yanking my chain around like that. You can forget that damned favor."

"Fine," Betty replied. "But you're going to do this one for me anyway. You're going to retrieve the Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer for me."

"Why the hell should I?" Shego yelled at the stoic woman. "You accuse me, play your dirty mind tricks on me, try to turn two of very few people in this world I consider friends against me... And _then_ expect me to do as you say? Don't forget, woman, I don't work for you anymore!"

"Oh really?" Betty asked with a drawl. "I kept your butt out of jail, so I guess that means that same butt belongs to me."

"Hell, I didn't ask for your help!" Shego shouted back. Then muttering under her breath, she added, "I knew there was a catch to that check you gave me. Dirty, rotten, rat-fink bitch."

"I've always looked out for you," Betty replied coolly. "Besides, you got a huge debt to society that you better start paying off. And I think this mission should be of particular interest to you."

"Society still owes me a big fucking check for my career at Team Go and what happened with Chesterfield!" Shego pointed out vehemently. "In between those, I figured we're pretty much square now!"

"Doesn't work like that, Sheila, and you know it," Betty replied coolly. "You're out there right now, under public scrutiny. Thank god that this time you came out in the public's eye as a victim and a good guy, standing alongside the good reputation of Team Possible. But there are still politicians out there who would lynch you for another term in office. So you better help me make it easier to tell them why the hell you aren't paying for your crimes yet."

"Dammit," Shego cursed under her breath. "You're damn good at these games, Betts. All this fucked up politicking; you should just run for President."

"I would," Betty looked up with a grin. "On the reputation of reforming super villains. You'd be my close personal aide and trophy."

"Ah fuck you, Betts," Shego grumbled. "Okay, so why should I be remotely interested in this thingama-doodad?"

"We haven't discovered who took it yet, or who is behind it," Betty explained. "On a completely unrelated note, it turns out that Dr. Drakken, your former employer is on the move again. A couple of large recent financial transactions have set off flags and we believe that he might be planning something, or already in the process of carrying it out. Considering that he's been dormant for the past two months, we believe this theft and these transactions point to it being his 'something big'."

"So?" Shego asked as she rolled her eyes. "You said it was unrelated, and I don't give a shit what that blue idiot is doing."

"On the rare chance that the PDVI and Drakken are connected, I'd like you, along with Team Possible to bring him in," Betty replied. "It's just that we have no leads right now on Drakken right now other than a few suspicious transactions, so I think you're better off chasing this PDVI."

"So I get to go play fetch for you?" Shego asked sardonically. "I don't know whether I made myself clear but I'm not going back to Global Justice."

"Oh you're not," Betty smugly replied. "You're a freelancer working on contractual basis that is not on the Global Justice's payroll."

"Damn you, Betts!" Shego hollered. "I quit! I'm out of here, I don't have time for this bullshit!"

"Ahem," Betty replied. "I'm sure Team Possible wouldn't mind the assistance. Right, Kim? Ron? After all, you do technically owe them a few favors."

Instantly, on cue, Ron nodded his head, and voiced his thoughts, "Yeah, just help us out, it's nothing big."

Shego turned her gaze over to Kim who just looked impassively at her and shrugged. She looked back at Ron, who gazed at her half-expectantly with those large brown chocolate eyes, which quickly forced Shego to turn away.

"Ah shit on you, Betts," Shego grumbled. "You conniving, sneaky, little bitch."

"Okay, so let me know how it goes then," Betty replied with a wide smile. "Dismissed…"

"Wait a minute, Betts," Shego halted her. "I can't do this full-time; you know as well as I do that I have a job."

Betty raised her eyebrow and replied nonchalantly, "We know, the background check was just cleared with us yesterday."

"What the…" Shego exclaimed hostilely. "You fucking know! You know everything I've been doing, every transaction…"

"Right," Betty replied smoothly. "That's a nice ride you bought there, I thought I told you not to blow that check all in one place."

"It's leased!" Shego shot back. "That's why I got a job, to pay off the lease, go legit, you know."

"Whatever," Betty replied smugly. "So when are you taking me out for dinner?"

"When you burn in hell, Betts," Shego grumbled as she turned her back and walked towards the door. She yanked the doorknob hard, and to her surprise it was now unlocked. As she left the room, she heard a little chortle at her expense, and a voice calling after her.

"Anytime, Sheila, anytime."

* * *

She was in a really bad mood, as she got into the driver's seat of her new Mazda and slammed the door shut. Sticking the key into the ignition, she did not feel that sense of satisfaction, pride and ownership when the engine came to life. For some reason, the car felt dirty. Maybe it was because the license and registration was sitting in her 'Wanted' file in some Global Justice file cabinet. For some reason, everything she did, no matter how legit, ended up tainted with her criminal past.

"You okay, Shego?" Ron asked as he slid into the front passenger seat.

"Yeah, Stoppable," Shego replied tiredly as she rested her forehead on the steering wheel of the car.

"You didn't do it, right?" Kim asked from the back passenger seat of the car.

"No," Shego replied curtly.

"Then you should be fine," Kim replied in a low voice.

"Hey, don't let Dr. Director get to you," Ron said as he reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. "She's probably just doing her job."

"You know what bothers me?" Shego asked listlessly. She paused for a moment before continuing. "It's that no one fucking trusts me. I mean, not just this time… It's like when I came over to your house first. It was hard, no one trusted me then, and I completely understand. Then after a while, I thought it'd be all good, and I could maybe leave things behind. But they just keep coming back, you know what I mean?"

Kim shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she clearly remembered the shouting matches and fights the two of them had when Shego first moved in with the Stoppables. Safe to say, it took a while before a necessary truce was called. She watched the green-skinned woman's slumped shoulders and felt a little guilty for thinking she could have stolen the PDVI. After all, Shego was innocent, right?

"I just thought, 'Hey, Shego, if you've given up a life of crime, everything should start to be nice and peachy, right?' and then when some shit like this happens, people are quick to think that I did it," Shego continued in a melancholic tone.

"Aww… Don't be like that, Shego," Ron tried to sound cheerful. "We believe you. After all, you saved us, and we'll stick by you."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Shego lifted her head off the steering wheel and turned to give Ron a weak smile.

"So what was that about a job?" Kim asked Shego from the back.

"Job?" Shego asked with a slightly more upbeat voice. "It's something I did last week, looked it up and applied."

"So are you going to tell us what job it is?" Kim asked.

"Oh, it's going to be a surprise," Shego said smugly.

"Nothing illegal?" Kim half-joked.

"Nothing of that sort, Princess. At least not yet," Shego riposted with an evil, knowing smirk. "But you'll find out soon enough."

Despite the cajoling from the two teens, she remained tight-lipped the entire way home. She was not going to be denied the amusement of witnessing the look of their faces when they found out.

* * *

On Monday morning, Kim was in a grouchy mood. Grouchier than normal on an average Monday. Her hair did not have its usual sheen and its stiff movement showed that it has been brushed hastily. She walked up to her locker and spun the combination angrily before yanking open the door. After grabbing her books, she slammed the door, and turned around to almost bump into someone.

"Pissy much?" Monique greeted her with a smile. The African-American girl glanced left and right first before turning to Kim with a puzzled look. "Where's Ron? Is he sick today?"

Kim muttered something under her breath, and ran her fingers through her hair quickly as she ducked her head down a little.

"Wait, you two didn't have a fight, did you?" Monique asked in shock.

"Worse," Kim grumbled with a nasty tone in her voice.

"What could be worse than a fight?" Monique gasped as she raised her hand to cover her mouth. "No… Tell me it's not true! The last one bastion of all that is romantic and full of the promise of true love, you two did _not_ break up!"

"Drama much, Mon?" Kim snapped at the dark-haired girl. "Nothing like that. Someone else is giving him a ride to school."

"Oh! So that explains the rumors I've been hearing!" Monique wondered out loud. "Is this someone tall, black-haired, all goth-y pale skinned and hot as hell?"

Kim's eyes flashed angrily at the last description. "Hot as hell?" Her voice asked dangerously, with raised eyebrows, gripping her books tightly and through clenched teeth.

"Marcella's words! Not mine!" Monique amended a trifle too quickly, raising her hands quickly and taking a step back. "She saw him get out of the car with this 'smoking hot babe that looks way sexier than Kim ever would.' Err… Kim… Kim?" She waved her hand in front of Kim's face, but got no discernible reaction.

"I've got to go," Kim spat out at Monique.

"Kim? _Kim_!" She called after the storming red-head. "Should I tell the others that cheerleading practice is canceled because one of them is hospitalized and the other one's in custody?" Monique received no reply as the back of the red-head faded into the crowd of milling students.

"Heya, Monique!" A cheerful voice greeted her from behind.

"Ron!" Monique spun to see him. "Woah momma, boy _you_ got some serious damage control to do. Kim's on the warpath."

"Huh? Why?" Ron asked confused.

"Something to do with the hottie that gave you a ride to school?" Monique hinted.

"Hottie?" Ron screwed up his face in confusion. "Oh… You mean Shego. Nah, she just offered me a ride here this morning because she said she was heading in the same direction, that's all."

"Shego?" Monique's jaw dropped in amazement. "You mean big, green and mean?"

"I don't know about mean…" Ron wondered wistfully.

"Ron!" Monique snapped at the blonde. "Anyway, you better get to Kim before she does something that'll get her twenty to life."

"Yeah, Kim… Warpath… Got it," Ron awkwardly saluted as he ran down the corridor in search of his girlfriend.

With a smile on her face, Monique shook her head at those two friends of hers. Although they save the world on a regular basis, sometimes even the best of them can get caught up in the average teenage drama. She was about to turn and share her new findings with the Middleton High grapevine on all rumors, true or otherwise, when the bell rang. With a sigh, she trudged towards the gym. The pep rally would be a bitch, but with any luck, Monique would get to sit next to someone who can explain to her the latest dish on what happened between Richard Rollings and Francesca Susans on Friday night.

The gym was mostly packed by the time she got to it, and Monique quickly scanned the crowds for a seat when two hands… No, make that two hands and a claw belonging to a naked mole rat waved to her from the back of the bleachers.

"Heya, girlfriend," Monique smiled as she sat down next to Kim, who was decked out in her cheerleading uniform. "Looking good?"

"Much better, please and thank you," Kim returned a much cheerier smile.

"So, do I need to call Marcella an ambulance today? Or did Ron manage to stop the green jellin' machine from running down a few cheerleaders?" Monique asked with a grin.

"So not funny, Mon," Kim rolled her eyes, as she quickly scanned the gym and instantly zeroed in on a group of bubbly girls giggling away at the front row of the bleachers.

"Uh huh, yeah, and I'm the Queen of England," Monique grinned.

"Your majesty," Ron waved from Kim's other side, and Rufus managed to perform a gracious bow in front of her.

"Ooh… The royal treatment," Monique replied gleefully. "I could get to likin' this adoration from my loyal subjects…"

She was suddenly interrupted by the booming voice of the one true terror of Middleton High. Standing at six foot four, with a weight of at least two hundred and seventy pounds of pure, harsh, no-nonsense muscle, capable of dishing out six detention slips a minute, was the real one-man disciplinary committee of Middleton High: Vice-Principal Steve Barkin.

"People! Settle down!" His voice boomed across the gym, instantly silencing every single student. His baleful eye washed over everyone present, and only stopped for a moment on Ron, before continuing to study the rest of the student population.

Mr. Barkin continued in that loud voice that did not require a megaphone or PA system, and reported, "Listen up, people! As you well know, today is our pep rally, and a week from Friday is our Homecoming. Before we get to that, however, the lunch lady wanted me to inform you that today's special would be Mystery Meat Deluxe, with added Mystery."

The student body groaned in unison, and even Barkin was beginning to look a little green after making the announcement.

"People! People! Quiet, people! Settle down!" The military man was quick to resume control over the nauseated crowd. "Anyway, we only have one other piece of administrative news on the agenda today before we get to the rally. We have a new teacher joining us today, and she will be teaching gym class."

There was suddenly loud clapping and cheering, as students rejoiced over the fact that gym would no longer be taught by substitute Steve Barkin.

With a glowering look, he silenced the crowd. After he was satisfied that order was restored, he continued, "Anyway, it would be my pleasure to introduce… Or rather reintroduce…"

The gym door swung opened and a tall woman with raven black-hair stepped in.

"No… Way…" Ron's jaw hung slack.

"Is that?" Monique asked.

Kim's eyes opened wide in shock, as a single word escaped her lips. "Shego." Kim closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

"Ms. Sheila Go, former hero of Go City and new gym class teacher for Middleton High school!" The warm introduction didn't go unnoticed by the students, many of whom both remembered the woman from her brief stint as a school-wide favorite teacher, as well as the brief time she'd spent dating Mr. Barkin.

"Oh," Monique said with a delighted, gossip hungry gleam in her eye, as she cast a brief sidelong glance at her two dumbstruck friends. "This is going to be good!"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

After over a month, I've finally posted the first chapter. It took a little longer than normal this time because I've apparently moved place of residence twice in this month, and just completed my second move. I'm sporting a large bruise on my left shin where I roughly slammed it against a concrete divider that I tried to hop over. Hurray for little things.

I'm starting to like Betty's character here a lot more. Hell, she's even bitchier than Shego, and she has an eyepatch. If that does not scream sexy, then… Okay… Never mind. But I like Betty here a lot more. She's starting to show more of that tough love attitude towards Shego, which I think shows more of her leadership skills and her abilities to manipulate people. Plus I think she also gets the kick out of tweaking Shego like that. How many people would dare piss off a green super powered woman with impunity like that? She clearly plans ahead, she has firm control over the situation, and she's not above cheap shots. I'm sure Ron being there was an intentional plotting to coax Shego into doing Betty's bidding. Classic signs of leadership, I feel.

I'm sure many people saw the job thing coming. After all, that's the only way Shego becomes a bigger part of Kim and Ron's life. But I clearly enjoy Monique's reaction. She's definitely enjoying the presence of the new gym teacher already.

Finally, I sort of wonder if Shego's reaction to Betty was wholly in character. Mainly because there were no scorch marks, or stench of burnt flesh. I could always claim that she was totally caught off-guard by Betty, which she definitely was. And Betty has always been a friend to her, well… Thus far… She probably still is… And I figured as much that Shego won't want to eviscerate anyone with Ron looking on. Hmm… That'll be a great pickup line. "Hey, you look cute. Wanna go have a drink with me later? Hold on while I cut out this bitch's heart and feed it to her."

Anyway, I suppose that's it from me. By the way, thanks for all the support from the Fannies. Didn't really expect much at first, but kinda great to get this far. I tip my hat to you, and hope you'll enjoy this sequel.


	2. Chapter 2

Kim threw a mean left hook that connected to a henchman's jaw, almost splitting her knuckles. Gritting her teeth in pain, she whirled around before another henchman almost grabbed her from behind. With a straight kick to the gut, she sent him crashing into a neat pile of barrels stacked inside the missile silo.

She thought back on how she'd gotten into this mess of henchmen as she dodged another henchman as he tried to tackle her from behind. She gave him a little push to send him flying into the henchman that had crashed into the barrels, knocking them unconcious. Just hours ago, they received an urgent message from Wade, reporting that Professor Dementor had a rocket set up in an abandoned missile silo in the middle of North Dakota.

Knowing that rockets and mad scientists are a volatile mix, Team Possible reacted immediately by getting the next available ride and infiltrating the underground silo. As they were about to stealthily disable the rocket by manually disconnecting the engines, an intruder alarm came on and the huge underground room was swarming with Professor Dementor's loyal henchmen.

It was a quick and nasty beat-down as Kim went at them with, according to Ron's honest opinion, a more vicious manner of attack than her regular fights. Finally, having enough, she drew in a deep breath and hollered, "That's it Professor Dementor! Give up! All your henchmen are unconscious!"

"Ah… My dear Kim Plossible!" The dirty-green hued portly man chuckled as he walked out from behind the shadows, his strange, medieval style helmet cocked slightly askew from the errant flight of one of his henchmen. "You zink you haff defeated me, but I vill haff dze last laugh!" He laughed maniacally as he walked up next to the two-hundred foot tall missle sitting placidly in its silo, patting its side with his hand. "Zis rocket, vonce launched into dze atmosphere, vill implode, causink an EMP blast that vill dzestroy all electronich equipment over dze US auf A!"

"So lame," Ron yawned in boredom as he glanced over at the pile of henchmen lying unconscious at his girlfriend's feet. "All your men are down, and there's no one to help you now."

"Or izn't dzere?" the short man grinned evilly. He tilted his head up and yelled, "Get zem!"

"Seriously," a voice called out from the catwalk above. "This is seriously whacked… I thought all I had to do was to trick out the ultimate ride."

"Zere vill be no ultimate ride eff Kim Possible iz zsdill alife!" the little man screeched.

"Right," a tall hulk of a man leaped down from above and waved a massive spanner in his hand. "So Red, how about a dance? Seriously?"

"Motor Ed," Kim spat out his name. Without waiting for him to make the first move, Kim lunged recklessly at him as he brought the spanner down hard towards her head.

Twisting her body at the last moment, she avoided the clumsy blow and delivered a spin kick to his left side. The kick barely elicited a grunt from the bulky brute of a man, and before she could react, he grabbed her foot and with a wild swing over his head, threw her into a large pile of boxes, stunning the teenage red-head for a moment.

"Hah! I knew it!" the little man screamed in joy as he pumped his hands high into the air. "Zis is dze end of Kim Possible! Victory iz mine!"

"So not," a cheery voice called out behind him.

"Vas?" Professor Dementor yelled in surprise as he spun around in surprise to see Kim's full-time sidekick and boyfriend grinning as his fingers flew all over the keyboard, pressing half a dozen buttons a second on the computer console beside him. Assisting him was none other than one pink garment-impaired rodent, running up and down the keyboard, contributing to the random pushing of buttons. Suddenly, with a triumphant cheer from the blond, the loud klaxons of alarms started blaring through the missile silo, as red lights started flashing.

"Ah there we go," Ron grinned at the short fuming man. "I knew the self-destruct button was one of these."

"Vat haff you done, you fvool?" Professor Dementor shouted as he shook his fists violently at Ron. "Ziss does not matter! I vill zee Kim Possible blown to bits!" With a click of his heels, a flaring noise was heard as gouts of flames splurted from the soles of his shoes and propelled the crazed scientist towards the opening of the missile silo at the top.

"That is seriously so not cool! My sweet baby!" Motor Ed yelled out in panic as he realized that the rocket as about to self destruct and that Professor Dementor was now escaping. He turned towards the rocket haplessly and in that brief moment of distraction, one-hundred and five pounds of raging, red-headed cheerleading vengeance drop-kicked him squarely in the back, neatly between the shoulders. The huge man flew forward, denting the side of the rocket before settling into a more upright posture. He swayed unsteadily for a moment before crashing to the ground with a satisfying thud.

Kim picked herself up and dusted her hands off, before giving him one last kick while he was down. Giving the unconscious form one last mean glare, she turned to Ron and yelled, "Can you turn that thing off?"

"Oh, right, give me a moment!" Ron yelled back, as his fingers started flying all over the console. "Now where is that button?"

A sweet feminine computerized voice announced over the PA system, "Self-destruct sequence in fifteen… Fourteen…"

"Ron!" Kim shouted warningly as she sprinted over to the computer console her boyfriend was furiously working on. She could clearly see that he was struggling and that beaded sweat was rolling down the side of his face. Even Rufus was busy running up and down the console, trying his best to step on every conceivable flashing button.

"Working here, KP," Ron called back distractedly. "Give me a minute!"

"Nine… Eight…"

"We don't have a minute!" Kim yelled back as she gazed down at the multitude of buttons before her. Her eyes fell on a computer screen that was flashing huge numbers counting down to destruction.

"Seven... Six… "

"Kim, I can't find the off button!" Ron waved his hands in rising panic.

"Five... Four…"

Rolling her eyes, Kim swung her arm back and drove her gloved fist through the computer screen, yanking out a fistful of wires. In a furious shower of hot sparks, the console flashed once, twice and went completely dead just as the countdown reached three.

"A-Booyah!" Ron cheered as he did a little victory dance. "Go KP! You're the best!" Even little Rufus was standing on his hind legs and clapping in celebration that they were still alive.

"No big," Kim finally allowed her mission mode to shut off, and gave her blonde boyfriend a smile and a big hug.

"You just saved our lives!" Ron exclaimed with pride. "Now that's big and that calls for a celebration."

"Bueno Nacho?" Kim asked.

"You read my mind," Ron grinned widely as he turned to extend a hand to Rufus.

The little naked mole rat quickly scampered up his arm and perched himself on his shoulder before proudly declaring in a loud squeak, "Cheese!"

A small explosion caused the two teens to jump in surprise and they glanced at the steel doorway which had just been blown apart. Through the clearing smoke, three figures rushed it, wristwatches aimed and ready and a tall lanky figure in a black and blue jumpsuit strode in, while surveying the area. He raised his watch to his face and spoke into it.

"This is Agent Du, reporting that the area is secured."

Kim instantly rolled her eyes at the Global Justice agent, and tapped her foot in annoyance. "About time you got here," she called out to him from across the room.

He glanced around the room one final time, surveying the damage and unconscious men, before turning his nose up. "While most of the henchmen have been apprehended and the plot foiled, the mastermind behind it has escaped, and there is significant damage to the rocket. Clearly the sign of amateurish work," he spoke aloud to no one, but his criticism was clearly directed.

"Stand down, Agent Du," another figure brushed past him and walked straight up to a red-headed teen hero who was audibly making small snarling noises at the back of her throat. Giving Kim and Ron one last look to ensure that they were perfectly fine, Betty Director turned and commanded her men, "Apprehend all the henchmen, and recover the rocket. I think this is fine work for tonight."

"At least the amateurs got here on time," Kim snipped back in a foul mood.

Betty looked at Kim closely with her one eye before opening her mouth. "I'd have thought Shego would be in on this one too."

"Nah, she's busy tonight," Ron replied. "Her new job has her filling out tons of paperwork, student reports and that sort of thing."

"Besides," Kim added in with a neutral voice. "We can definitely handle this on our own. Team Possible has always worked well as a team of two in the field."

"Ahem!" Rufus squeaked from his perch atop Ron's shoulder.

"Okay, three!" Kim said to Rufus, holding up a placating hand to the rodent with a smile on her face.

"True that," Betty mused at that comment. "But that was before these super villains started teaming up with one another." Her eyes fell upon the blonde mullet man who was being led away by two Global Justice agents in cuffs. "Bring him over here!" she barked loudly at them.

"Oww… Red… That hurt really bad… Seriously," Motor Ed groaned as he blinked hard twice to clear his blurred eyesight. "I'm still seeing double here… Plus a beautiful one-eyed angel."

Kim and Ron's jaw dropped as their gaze alternated between the villain and a stoic Global Justice head. They were both wondering the same thing: did Motor Ed just hit on Dr. Director? Betty remained tight-lipped as she kept a watchful eye over the blond muscle man. Finally she spoke mirthlessly, "Wouldn't your cousin, Dr. Drew 'Drakken' Lipsky be disappointed that you're working for the competition?"

"Woah… Seriously, she speaks!" Motor Ed glanced up in surprise and blink harder. "Woah… Seriously babe, Drew's my coz an' stuff, but we're not all that close... 'Sides, he's deep in hiding, so it don't matter to me as long as I get to work on some sweet machinery… And, hey, would you like to go for a ride with me when I make my most awesome ride ever?"

"The only riding you'll get is the flight you'll be doing when I shove this boot up your muscle bound ass!" Betty remarked coldly.

"Woah, chill, babe, seriously… You act like one frigid bitch…" Motor Ed grinned wryly and winked at the tanned woman with an eye patch. "But that's how I like 'em. So you wanna be the gas station on my highway of love? I'd even let you play with my gearstick. It's automatic and it pretty much drives itself."

Pursing her lips together until it formed a thin line across her face, Betty's face darkened, whether in an embarrassed blush or an angry flush was uncertain. Taking a deep breath, she suddenly drew her arm back and delivered a hard punch in the gut of one blond car-nut. Much to her satisfaction, he grunted in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach. Bending over the groaning man, she spoke in a cold and neutral voice, "Motor Ed, you are under arrest for aiding and abetting a known super villain in a plot to take over the world and attempting to cause widespread destruction. You are also under arrest for three counts of interfering with a law enforcement officer, just be glad I can't make those sexual harassment charges... How's that for a frigid bitch?"

The blonde man groaned as if in pain again before replying, "Babe… Woah… No hurt… But seriously… It's not sexual harassment if you enjoyed it, rig-?"

His words were suddenly cut short by the heel of a boot firmly planting his fingers to the floor. For the first time in their lives, Kim and Ron witnessed a tough, burly man scream in high C to high heaven like a little girl. "Not the fingers, babe! Seriously, I _need_ those!"

Betty glowered at him and asked coldly, "So where is your accomplice hiding?"

"Babe… Babe… Seriously, I don-..." the grown man whimpered.

Again he was cut short, by the grinding sound of a combat boot into his already sore fingers, and his screams shot pierced through the air.

"Where is Professor Dementor hiding?" Betty repeated herself as she ignored his whimpers.

"I don't know!" Motor Ed finally gasped out. "Babe! Seriously! I'm innocent in all of this!"

Betty thought on this for a moment before a smirk touched the corner of her mouth. She slowly lessened the pressure on Ed's fingers, before stepping back and looking at Agent Du. "Take him back to HQ and put him in the holding block with Frugal Lucre." Betty commanded.

"No way, that's beyond cruel and unusual, babe! The only way to shut him up is to talk more than him, and that hurts my jaw, seriously!" Motor Ed insisted as he winced at the thought of being stuck with the in pain. "Besides, Dementor just wanted me to trick this missile out! That's all! There's nothing illegal about tricking out a missile, right?"

"Call me babe one more time and I'll…" Betty raised her foot threateningly over Motor Ed's fingers, making his face contort in pain at the threat.

"It's true! Ba- I mean… Incredibly hot chick with the jumpsuit and eye-patch!" Motor Ed insisted.

Looking at the man in what seemed to be disgust, Betty ordered her two agents, "Get him out of here, we'll interrogate him later…"

Nursing his injured fingers, Motor Ed gave one last look at Betty before being led away by the pair of Global Justice agents. A good safe distance away from her, Motor Ed twisted his head around and yelled, "Babe! Come visit me sometime! You know where to find me, seriously!"

Betty glared at him one last time before turning back to the two teens. "You know, I'm rather surprised you're back on the field so fast. You could have let Shego and Ron covered you for a while until you're all better."

"I'm fine," Kim replied in a cold voice, as she tugged her hair in frustration. "I don't get why people keep insisting that there's something wrong with me when there clearly isn't. I can do my job perfectly fine."

"Our operatives usually go through some sort of psychiatric evaluation and counseling after going through a traumatic experience like yours," Betty replied. "I'm just concerned for your well-being, that's all."

"My mom's already set me up with some shrink or another," Kim grumbled, hoping to avoid the subject.

"But KP, wasn't your appointment today or something?" Ron asked.

"Mission time, Ron!" Kim snapped back suddenly. "We had to do this mission!"

"If you're at least getting some sort of professional assistance, that's fine," Betty replied. "If you require anything, remember that I'm here to help."

"Right, Dr. Director," Kim grudgingly assented. "I'll let you know if there's anything wrong, I promise."

"Right…" Betty nodded at the two teens. "You two better get going now. It's a school night."

"It's okay, I've already done my homework…" Kim replied in a lighter tone.

"Homework?" A look of dismay crossed Ron's face. "What homework?"

"We better get going then," Kim said to Betty, while tugging on Ron's shirt. "Let Wade know about any information Motor Ed has on Dementor, okay?"

"You two get out of here," Betty called after them with surprising affection, as they quickly ran out of the missile silo. Turning around suddenly, she almost bumped into Agent Will Du. "What is it?" she asked.

"That behavior… Was highly irregular," Agent Du remarked. "As Global Justice operatives, we should not resort to violent coercive methods to extract information out of prisoners."

"Agent Du," Betty's voice could cut through steel. "In that frame of reference, Motor Ed wasn't a prisoner and I wasn't a Global Justice operative."

"I don't get you," Agent Du asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Betty sighed as she explained, "Motor Ed was simply a rude man hitting on a random woman, and I'm simply an annoyed and insulted woman on a bad day."

Agent Du pondered that for a moment. As Betty walked off, he almost called out to her to ask her to clarify, but a little smidgen of self-preservation told him that it was perhaps the most unwise course of action. After a few minutes of ordering agents in the proper method of policing the area, he looked back at where Motor Ed had been laying. Staring at the spot for several long seconds, realization dawned on the stuffy agent as to what Betty had meant, and a small, honest smirk crossed his features.

* * *

Kim was jolted awake by a little bump as the Global Justice transport hover jet was buffeted while transitioning from flight mode to land. Slowly opening her eyes, she found both her arms wrapped around Ron's waist with her head on his chest, and his right arm draped over her side protectively. Yawning with a little smile on her face, she snuggled in a little tighter, hoping to catch a few more warm moments like this.

"C'mon KP," a voice called to her. "We better go, we're just landing."

"Five more minutes," she whined a little.

Ron let out a soft chuckle, as his girlfriend buried her face into his black mission shirt, not wanting to let go of him just yet. "As much as I enjoy the cuddle fest, I think the GJ pilot's waiting for us to get off…"

"Fine…" the red-head groused, as she reluctantly sat up in her seat, and rubbed her eyes. "Why'd do these damned GJ jets have to fly so fast?"

"Hey, you asked for it remember?" Ron replied in a jocular tone. "You wanted to get back here as soon as possible, as a certain blonde sidekick forgot his Latin homework."

"Unfortunately," a deep baritone floated from the front of the craft, a smile in the voice, "Ron's homework aside, of course, as much as I'd like to help you two get some 'you' time in, I do have to get back... But I do know a couple areas around the area you two could get some private time in, if you don't mind advice from a twenty-something on romantic 'picnic' spots?"

Kim blushed a little but smiled at the offer, cocking her head at Ron to gauge his thoughts on the idea. The young blond shrugged with a smile, so Kim looked towards the pilot, "Normally I'd say no, but with as hectic as things have been lately, I think a romantic getaway this weekend would do us some good." She said, blushing a bit deeper at her forward proclamation. "And thanks for the lift back!"

"Okay, I'll send the info to your site, Ms. Possible," the young looking pilot said as he turned and flipped his visor and targeting system up. "As for the ride, this was the least GJ could do for you two."

"Thanks, Commander Sites!" Ron said as he and Kim exited the assault hoverjet, her arms wrapped around his.

"Right…" Kim nodded, as she gave out another yawn. "C'mon Homework Boy… You don't want to get detention again." Ron groaned at Kim's comment, but complied, letting himself get dragged along by his girlfriend. "I just hope the places he sends us are worth it," Kim said softly as they walked towards Ron's house. "And you seem to be on good terms with him pretty quickly," she said with a grin, "Is he a fellow Hank the Snowman nerd or something?"

"Ironically, yes, but that's beside the point," Ron said with an offended air, "He's also pretty cool. And he apparently knew Shego back when she was a GJ recruit." At the uttering of her name, Kim unconsciously tightened her hold on Ron's arm. "But he didn't talk about much, and he seemed kinda bummed about something."

"He was probably an ex-boyfriend or something," Kim said dismissively, "But anyway, we'd better get inside and get your homework going."

"Maybe Mr. Barkin will let me off," Ron wondered aloud. "After all, I just did save the world from being thrown back to the Stone Age! Again."

Kim snorted with laughter, "Sure, and Drakken and Shego could get married…"

The two teens laughed together as they walked down the sidewalk to the end of the Stoppable's driveway. Just as they got to a safe range away from the hoverjet, the ramp retracted back and in a loud whoosh, it took off into the sky again. The wind, combined with the chilly October weather, caused Kim to shiver a little, and leaned into her boyfriend's body for warmth.

"Hey, Ron…" Kim asked after the noise of the jet has faded to the sounds of some geese flying high overhead. "You think I could crash at your place tonight? I'm really tired, and I want to get some sleep as soon as we get done with the homework."

"No problem," Ron replied confidently. "I'll just give your parents a call and say that you're staying over for the night."

"You sure?" Kim asked. "You know my dad probably _would_ mind. Ever since we started dating."

"Nah, my parents and Shego are around…" Ron explained with a smile. "I'm sure we'd be well-chaperoned, by two parents and one teacher."

"Don't you feel it's weird?" Kim asked. "You know, a teacher from school… Living with you… And her name's Shego?"

"Man, KP," Ron scratched his head awkwardly, as his features screwed up in panic. "Now that you mention it… She can give me detention in my own house! KP! We need to get our own place now!"

Kim smiled inwardly at his words. "You sure you want to move out with me?"

"Sha… There's no one else I could imagine living together with, KP," Ron replied happily, as he put an arm around her and drew the red-head closer to him. "Now let's get you inside before you catch a cold."

Without another word, the two walked up the driveway and opened the front door. To Kim, Ron's house was almost like a second home. She'd spent a lot of time here, just as much as Ron had dropped by conveniently for breakfast. She knew every piece of furniture, every picture and every person who lived in here so well, that it's almost like an extended family. Kim let a smile form on her face, as she tiredly let her mind wander… Wondering if some day…

"Hey, the married couple returns," a voice greeted the both of them.

Ron broke out in a crimson blush as he quickly replied, "Hey Shego… Whatcha doing?"

Shego was sitting down on the living room floor in front of the coffee table, which was stacked high with papers. She arched her back and stretched her arms out, letting out a loud yawn as she gestured at the paperwork in front of her. "Work… Stuff… You won't believe how many forms I need to fill out just on my first day of work."

"I'm surprised you haven't torched them all yet," Kim replied.

"Almost did," Shego yawned again. "The school is one huge bureaucratic machine that keeps sucking the life out of teachers. Do you know how many forms a teacher must fill every time they give a student detention?"

"Really?" Ron asked in surprise. "I thought they just yell 'Detention!' and that's it! At least that's the way Barkin seems to do it."

"Yeah… I think that guy loves filling out forms," Shego replied. "Or maybe just something to do with the fact that I won't go on a second date with him."

"Second date?" Kim spluttered in amazement.

"Hey, who knew the guy moved fast?" Shego shrugged expansively. "But that guy's really not my type."

"Oh really?" Kim smiled a little as she sat down on the floor opposite Shego. "What about that time…"

"No!" Shego immediately cut her short. "We are not bringing up that time ever again. The first date was a mistake and I don't like military men and people who love to follow rules as set down in some arbitrary edition of 'The Book'! You should know that, Kimmie!"

"But you called him Stevie and all that! You were practically swooning…" Kim probed a little more.

"Princess!" Shego's eyes flashed for a moment. "I don't swoon. Have you ever seen me swoon? Swooning is _so_ beneath me."

Kim let out a little cough, as she said in a sing-song falsetto, "Oh… Denial!"

"He's not my type, okay!" Shego raised her voice a little shrilly.

"Then what's your type?" Kim demanded humorously.

"Err…" Shego gulped a little nervously as she glanced quickly around the room, with her eyes briefly resting on Ron who was staring at her curiously before turning her attention back to Kim. Clearing her throat, she replied in an authoritative tone, "Detention!"

"What?" Kim's eyes opened wide in shock. "What do you mean detention?"

"It means, tomorrow, you have detention after school," Shego smiled evilly. "Is that so hard to understand? I thought you were a smart kid."

"But… But…" Kim stammered. "That is so unfair! That's a gross misuse of power!"

"It says so here in the teacher's handbook that if a student has acting disrespectfully towards a teacher, a suitable punishment may be meted out as laid out in the punishments guidelines," Shego replied smugly as she waved a thick photocopied book in her hands.

"But… But…" Kim gaped like a goldfish, as she grabbed the book out of Shego's hands and flipped through. "I was just asking! There is no disrespecting! Besides, we aren't even in school right now!"

"Ahem, as listed out in the student's handbook," Shego replied coolly, "'A student has to respect a teaching staff or faculty member as long as he or she is an active student of the Middleton High School District, regardless of place or time.'"

"But… Cheerleaders don't get detention!" Kim almost wailed frantically, as she flipped through the pages, trying to find that little paragraph of text. "You can't do this to me…"

Shego stared at Kim with a deadpanned look as the red-head furiously flipped through the pages. Suddenly, she quickly grabbed a pillow off the sofa and buried her face in it, making curious gasping noises.

Kim dropped the book, and stared at Shego in confusion, before it started to dawn on her that Shego was indeed laughing. With a little huff, her voice became dangerously low, as she intoned the older woman's name, "Shego…"

Shego lifted her head off the pillow, with a wide grin on her face, as tears streamed down the side of her face. Through gasps of breaths, she laughed, "Oh, Princess… That was just priceless… This is too much… I can't believe you bought it…"

Suddenly her words were cut short as a pillow came flying across the room and smacked her across the face. Shego's laughter died almost immediately, and there, sitting across from here was a smirking red-head with a look of satisfaction on her face. "Oh no, you didn't," Shego replied warningly. "You shouldn't have done that."

"Oh, and why's that? Are you going to give me another 'detention'?" Kim taunted the green woman with a smirk.

Just as Kim finished her sentence, Shego flung the pillow back at her face. "That's what I'm going to do," Shego teased back. "You just got a warning shot."

"Aren't you a little too _old _for pillow fights?" Kim grinned as she raised her pillow and cocked her arm back ready for an opening.

"Why, Princess, I am in the prime of my life," Shego drawled lazily with an evil smirk, as she held out another pillow in front of her with two hands.

"That's why, you have nowhere else to go but _down!_" Kim yelled as she flung her pillow, which was coolly deflected by a grinning ex-villainess.

"My, my, Princess," Shego smirked, as she eyed the red-head. "You must be getting tired. Your aim's off and that was a weak throw."

"I am not tired," Kim replied in a huff as she tried her best to stifle a yawn.

"Better get home soon," Shego suggested with an evil gleam in her eye. "You don't want me to give you detention for being late tomorrow."

"I'm crashing here for the night," Kim replied as she rubbed her eyes. Then turning to Ron, she added, "Right?"

"Uh huh," Ron simply nodded.

"Hmm… And here I thought you were too tired for bedroom acrobatics," Shego replied with a smirk.

"Hey…" Ron protested hastily. Gulping down huge mouthful of air, he waved his hands, denying, "We don't… Not that… Not yet… Just cuddling…"

A full smile spread on Shego's lips as she muttered, "That's good…" Then as an afterthought, she added quickly, "I mean, as a teacher, I should warn you of the dangers of teen pregnancy. But I suppose you two are responsible teens who know that already."

"Right, sure…" Ron replied with a blush as he studied his shoes.

Noticing that slight pause in her words, Kim gave Shego a long curious look. Without a word, she picked herself up, walked over to Ron and latched onto his arm. Letting another yawn through without any attempts to stifle it, she tugged gently at Ron's arm. "C'mon, Ron," she said, "Let's go get ready for bed... We can wake up early and do the homework then."

"But... Homework first thing in the morning…" Ron asked.

"Yeah, first thing tomorrow morning; and I'll be there to help you out, okay?" Kim replied. "Otherwise we can ask Mr. Barkin for an extension."

"But… Mr. Barkin would never agree," Ron pointed out.

"C'mon, Ron," Kim whined, and gave him a little pout. "I'm tired and I want you with me…"

"Fine, KP," Ron sighed, as he resigned himself to being dragged quickly up the stairs. Calling back down to the living room, he said, "Night, Shego."

"Good night, Ron." Shego whispered quietly to herself, watching the two teens disappearing upstairs. With a sigh, she turned back to the pile of papers on the coffee table and started writing. Two crumpled forms and four misspelled words later, she let her pen slip out of her grasp and clatter on the table.

Raising her hand to rub the bridge of her nose, she quietly whispered to herself, "I must be more tired than I thought." She glanced over to where her keys and purse lay, spying her once again ever-present pack of cigarettes. With a dejected sigh, she stood up from her paperwork and swiped up her keys and purse, pulling the pack of smokes out as she left the house. _A drive and a few smokes, and I should be back to normal, right?_ She asked herself, knowing that the answer for her question was not the one she wanted to hear.

* * *

The next morning, Shego wandered half-asleep into the kitchen in her deep green bathrobe, searching for her much needed cup of coffee. She was pleasantly surprised to find a table laid out with freshly made toast, Belgian waffles, and some strawberry preserves. While wandering over the breakfast, her eyes immediately seized upon a pot of freshly made coffee kept warm on the kitchen counter, and she wafted dreamily towards the invigorating smell. Reaching up with her left hand to the cupboard above, she grabbed a mug and poured herself a steaming cup of hot black fluid.

Lifting it up to her face, she took in a deep breath of the smell of roasted beans and let out a loud contented sigh, before slurping loudly from the edge of her mug. A contented smile crept to her face, and she let out a loud "Ahhh…" of approval.

"Good morning, Shego," a smiling voice greeted her from behind.

She whirled around instantly and blinked twice, almost sloshing some of her hot coffee onto her hand. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, and finally noticed that Ron was standing by the stove, holding a frying pan and looking at her. "God damn, Stoppable," she breathed in surprise. "When did you show up?"

"I was here when you came in," Ron replied with a shrug. "I said 'Good morning' to you three times already, you only heard me the fourth time."

"Really?" Shego mumbled with a slight blush on her cheeks, which she sought to hide by quickly raising her coffee mug to her lips.

"Guess you're not that much of a morning person, are you?" Ron teased, as he turned back to his cooking.

"Don't usually get up before 10am," Shego said wryly. "After all, staying in dark, damp, evil madmen lairs tends to screw up your internal clock."

"You should get Drakken to install a sunroof in the lair," Ron replied with a grin. "Might help that blue skin of his."

Shego quickly raised a hand to cover her mouth as she snorted and sniggered at the thought, "Dr. D? I think he just needs to get out a bit more. I'm surprised his mother never yelled at him to 'Stop playing with those doodads and go out there and play with your friends!' or something similar." She mimicked Mrs. Lipsky's high pitched voice with an exaggerated nasal accent.

Ron let out a chuckle at the flawless act, and his uproarious laughter was soon joined by Shego. Gasping for breath, he said, "Man, does Drakken have any friends anyway?"

Wiping a tear from her eye, Shego grinned as she replied, "Not really… He doesn't get enough street cred in the villain community due to most of his plans being foiled by a teenage cheerleader. Plus who'd want to associate with an evil genius who clutches Mr. Huggles to sleep every night?"

"Mr. Huggles?" Ron asked in a curious tone.

"Oh, just his mangy old teddy bear, which he's had since he was six!" Shego howled with laughter as she brought it up.

Ron instantly bent over with laughter, and smacked his palm on the kitchen counter to steady himself. "Man, Shego," he managed to gasp out. "That guy should just retire… Do something else where he's likelier to succeed… Like… Like…"

"Like flower arrangement?" Shego quipped with a gleam in her eye, which resulted in another huge guffaw from Ron. "I'm serious!" Shego tried to speak without laughing too hard. "He's got these magazines under his bed, and… And…" She couldn't hold it in anymore and broke out in a fresh gale of laughter.

"Those dainty hands have their uses after all…" Ron added, much to their mutual amusement.

In the middle of their laugh-fest, a lithe cheerleader seemingly clad in nothing but Ron's oversized jersey stood in the kitchen doorway, with her red hair still wet from her morning shower. Instantly homing in on the laughing blond, she wrapped her arms around his back and purred, "Morning, Ronnie… Whatcha laughing about?"

"Oh, hey… KP…" Ron tried to catch his breath and twisted around in her arms to return the hug. "Oh, nothing much… Just that Shego's been spilling some dirt on Drakken, that's all."

"Oh really?" Kim glanced over at Shego with a raised eyebrow before turning back demurely to Ron. "So how about a morning kiss?"

"Much obliged," Ron replied with a smile as he leaned down for a peck on the lips. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shego duck behind her cup of coffee and reach for a plate to grab some breakfast, seemingly oblivious to the display of affection.

"Mmm…" Kim sighed as she felt herself melting in his arms. With another long purr, she asked seductively, "So, Ronnie… How did you like your 'wake up' call this morning?"

"I… I…" Ron blushed instantly, feeling the heat radiating strongly from his face as he gulped wide-eyed at his girlfriend.

His words were quickly cut short by the inexplicable shattering of one ceramic plate slipping from the grasp of one pale-green woman and striking the cold kitchen floor. "Shit," a low voice cursed out, as she immediately bent over to pick up the pieces. There was a sharp hiss of pain, and followed by the repeated spitting out of "Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…"

"You okay there, Shego?" Ron immediately moved over to where the older woman stood, gripping her finger with her other hand, as bright crimson blood flowed freely through a deep cut.

"Yeah, it's nothing," she mumbled quickly as she turned away from him.

Two clear drops of blood dripped onto the kitchen floor, as Shego tried to stem the bleeding by pressure. She raised her finger to her lips and was about to suck away the blood before she felt someone grip her wrist. Turning to face the person, she saw a pair of green orbs staring back at her.

"Here," Kim replied curtly, as she held out a white paper towel. "If you do that, it might get infected."

"Thanks," Shego mumbled as she wrapped the paper towel around her finger and applied pressure to the wound.

"Sit down," Kim said in a stern voice as she turned to Ron. "Watch where you're stepping, I'll clean this all up."

"Yeah, thanks Kim," Ron replied softly as Shego sat down. Averting her gaze from their looks, she stared at the rows of food in front of her.

"C'mon, Ron," Kim called to her boyfriend, as she pulled him out of the kitchen. "Help me get the broom, then we got to get you showered and ready for school."

"Right, KP," Ron mumbled as he turned to give Shego one last look. "Hey, Shego… See you in a bit."

"'Kay, Ron," Shego mumbled off with a wave of her hand. "I'll be fine." Throwing her head back, Shego tilted her coffee mug and drained it in one gulp. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she glared at the food laid out before her, the wafting delicious smell of cheese omelets and Belgian waffles tickling her nose. But she'd lost her appetite already, and she quietly grumbled to herself, "Shouldn't have gotten up so early this morning anyway. Maybe I should call in sick."

Her thoughts were interrupted by the scraping of broken shards across the tiled kitchen floor. She looked up to see Kim sweeping up the broken pieces into a dustpan.

"Hey, sorry about that," Shego started.

"It's no big," Kim replied with a shrug.

"Thanks anyway, Kim," Shego replied bashfully.

"Like I said," Kim turned to the older woman with a slight smile. "It's no big."

"Hey, Kim?" Shego asked after a moment of silence, as she contemplated her next words.

"What?"

"We're still friends, right?" Shego asked.

Kim finished sweeping around the kitchen floor, making extra sure to gather up any stray shards, and dumped the broken pieces into the kitchen dustbin. Ignoring the older woman's words, she walked out of the kitchen and replaced the broom and dustpan in the closet under the stairs, before walking back into the kitchen. She washed her hands first, before patting them dry on the adjacent hanging hand towel and turning to look at Shego with an unreadable smile on her face, "Why do you ask that question?"

"It's just that…" Shego started uncomfortably. "I don't know…"

"Shego," Kim sighed expansively, with her arms crossed before replying. "We are friends, only if you want to be."

"Right," Shego muttered quietly to herself, as she watched the red-head reach over the table and grabbed a piece of toast before heading out of the kitchen.

"Sorry Shego, got to get dressed," Kim called to the older woman as she skipped out of the kitchen. "Maybe I can surprise Ron when he comes out of the shower."

Shego's gaze followed Kim, her emerald widening when Kim's little skip showed that, indeed, she wore nothing under Ron's oversized tee-shirt. For a brief moment, an image of another time and place flashed before her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, forcing herself to think of other things than that memory, anything but that. After a moment, she opened her eyes with a sigh, and turned her attention fully to the plate in front of her. _Guess I'd better eat something_

* * *

Shego's day had been rough. Several of her students in three of her five daily classes had been reduced to drooling idiots, both the boys and even a few of the girls. So she had been forced to take drastic measures, forcing the entire class to run twenty laps, barely sparing the few asthmatics and those with injury slips. She'd also doled out a few detention slips in the process, quickly earning the unofficial title of 'Hard Ass Bitch' within her first week on the job. But she still preferred that moniker to the more surreptitiously whispered, 'Mrs. Barkin'.

But it was a strangely satisfying week to her, perhaps the first time she actually remembered doing a week of honest work. Not all her students were perverts, and more than a few had welcomed her back to the campus with smiles. She smirked as she pulled into the Bueno Nacho near Ron's house, delighting in the fact that her students would take her seriously and not treat her like eye candy.

She got out of her Mazda and walked towards the restaurant, idly wondering about the list of things she had to do tomorrow. "Lessee," she muttered, glancing at her day planner, "Organize the Homecoming dance... Take charge of the cheerleading team, oh, great... Turn in the detention paperwork and submit my curriculum plans... Christ, what else can that stuck up ass make me do?" Upon stepping foot into the greasy fast food establishment, she heard a delighted cry from the far corner and glanced over, seeing Ron and Kim sitting with their friend Monique, who was waving her over to the booth they were in. "Oh, goody..." she muttered, rolling her eyes as she placed her order.

Shego sighed as her taco salad was handed to her, and, having nothing better to do at the moment, walked over to the table the three teens were sitting. "What's up?" she asked as she sat down, then glanced at Monique. "I didn't see you in class yesterday and today, Miss McCoy?"

"That's what I was just telling these two about!" the delighted teenager squealed, literally bouncing in her seat, "I've been pre-accepted into Go City U's new fashion course that starts in the fall semester!"

Ron and Kim both immediately smiled with enthusiasm, but Shego's response was more subdued. "Well, congrats, I guess, but you still have to graduate..." Shego's eyes gleamed evilly before taking on an almost somber look, "And you _have_ missed two days, so you'll have makeup work to do..."

"No big, as Kim would say, BMG," Monique said airily, waving Shego's apparent concern off. "It's not the first time, y'know? Besides, I'm too psyched to worry right now!"

"BMG?" Kim and Shego asked at the same time, before they glanced suspiciously at each other.

"Big, mean, and green," Monique explained, laughing at the look on Shego's face as she said it. "Oh, don't worry, I only used that around Kim," she assured the older woman.

"I better not hear that as a nickname in school, or you'll be looking at finishing this semester via in-school detention," Shego warned, before smiling and cocking her head at the younger woman. "So you're going to go to my alma mater and be part of a new class, eh?"

"A new _major_!" Monique corrected her with a grin, "And I'm getting a full ride scholarship for it, too! So, yes, we'll share an alma mater."

"Well, at least they had brains enough to find someone with some fashion sense," Shego said, glancing at Monique's stylish, deep blue blouse, "Unlike some people I know." Shego let the comment trail off, glancing over at Ron.

"Heh, TIST, GF," Monique said, snickering as all three of her friends looked at her like she had grown an extra head. "That is so true! Hope you can keep up with the lingo, GF."

Shego nodded and rolled her eyes with a grin, realizing she liked the dark skinned girl's attitude, even if she was the school's resident rumor-monger extraordinaire.

"Anyway, asking Ron, or even Kim, as much as I like her, to be fashionable is next to impossible!" Monique flashed a smile over at Kim who gurgled in protest at the intended barb, but she quickly reached out to close her fingers over Kim's lips. "No, Kim, you can't talk your way out of this: your fashion sense needs serious work, GF, even if the new uniform looks decent!" Kim snorted and slapped lightly at Monique's hand, earning a chuckle from her friend and Shego. She huffed and turned her attention to Ron, who was busy devouring yet another Naco.

Monique looked away from Ron's normal disgusting display of eating skill, glancing back over at Shego, "Hey, did you know they have you on a plaque there listing you as a celebrity graduate?"

Shego groaned and slapped her palm to her forehead, "Yes, I know... When I was a thief, I tried to steal it ten or fifteen times, but they have, like, a million backup plaques, I think." This drew a laugh from Kim, Ron, and Monique, and a grudging grin from their teacher.

"Well," Kim said, smirking slightly, "It could be worse, they at least listed you as a celebrity, not an infamous criminal." Shego winced and glared at Kim for a moment, before snickering at the comment.

"Yeah, you're right, Princess." She said after a moment, before turning back to Monique. "Anyway, Monique, I know someone teaching art there, sculpting and graphic arts, to be precise, so you must be good to have an offer like that..." Shego murmured, earning a blushing snort of agreement from Kim.

"Oh, you mean..." Ron started, before Shego interrupted him by shoving a Naco in his face.

"Yes, Ron, and that's all we're gonna talk about _that_ particular person, 'kay?" she said a bit firmly as Ron hurriedly nodded, taking the Naco from her hand with a grin.

"Really?" Monique said with a gleam in her eyes, "Is he hot?"

"I dated a few hotties back in college," Shego said dismissively, obviously wanting to drop the subject, "And Go U is loaded with them, so what does it matter?"

"Oh, Hell yeah they get some hotties!" Monique enthused, "I'm so gonna to be happy to be going there... I mean, Josh Mankey is hot, but he's got like... Average looks there!"

"Anyone in particular you're interested in, Mon?" Kim asked, snickering at Monique's blank look.

"Girl, I just looked! I mean, I'm not going to be there for months, after all..." she dismissed, and Kim gave up on teasing her friend, turning her attention back to Ron, whispering something in his ear that earned a blush from the blond. "So, I have a question, Shego," Monique said, and Shego looked at her with a quirked eyebrow, "How does a teacher make a pair of jeans, a button up sweater, and a dress shirt look as good as you do? I'd be challenged to work with that!"

"It's raw talent!" Shego said as she smiled at the dark-skinned girl, and the two of them dropped into a conversation about their thoughts on fashion. It was a sometimes animated conversation, especially at the end when Shego pointed out that simple is sometimes for the best, while Monique countered with accessorizing being the key for most looks.

A giggle emanating from Kim drew Shego's attention, and she glanced over uncomfortably at the two teen heroes acting lovey-dovey next to her. While much of their whispered conversation wasn't privy to her, her sharp hearing and ability to notice the little things turned out to be a curse in this situation, as she got more than a good picture of what was going to happen later on that evening. She cleared her throat before announcing to the table, "I think I need a refill."

"I'll join you," Monique said as Kim leaned and stole a kiss from Ron's lips, much to the blond boy's apparent delight. She caught up to Shego as the mint-hued woman was filling her cup, and noticed the drawn, tired look the older woman wore. "Something wrong?" Monique asked, full of concern.

"Eh, fine. Just teacher's stuff, nothing a student should worry about." Shego said nonchalantly. "Besides, you'll hate me when you find out what you have to make up." Shego added with a malicious glint in her eye.

"So you're saying I probably won't consider you my favorite teacher tomorrow?" Monique teased, hoping to draw a smile from the older woman.

"Something like that," Shego said with a gracious smile as she turned towards the table they were sitting at. "So don't get too relaxed around me."

"Okay," Monique allowed, then turned towards the order counter, "I'm going to grab something to eat since those two Shanghaied me."

Shego waved the chatty teen off as she walked back towards the table. She noticed that Kim was still talking in a hushed voice to Ron, but Ron wasn't blushing, and seemed quite happy with Kim's attention. _Seems like she's coming along fine..._ Shego thought with relief. That relief was short lived as she thought she saw Kim glance her way and whisper something more into Ron's ear, causing the blond to shift uncomfortably in his seat, his face falling nervously.

"Well, you know, Ronnie," Shego overheard Kim purring huskily as she rested her hand gently on his thigh. "What would _really_ turn me on would be to doing it on Shego's bed."

Ron glanced about in panic, before swallowing nervously and shoving an entire Naco into his mouth. Looking at his girlfriend, he pointed at his frantic chewing and waved off her comment with a shake of his head. Kim giggled and shook her head, leaning on Ron's shoulder and slowly tracing a hand up and down the inside of his thigh.

Shego paused for a brief second before moving obviously into the two teen's view, grumbling something unintelligible under her breath. She glanced at Kim, who, for a brief second wore an ashamed expression, before she smiled innocently.

"Everything alright, Shego?" Kim asked blithely, "Or is school getting you down that much?"

"Something like that..." Shego said, echoing her earlier comment to Monique. She turned her eyes towards the half eaten taco salad sitting in front of her, but somehow, she felt a little sick; that gnawing feeling in her stomach was back with a vengeance.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I think Kim's full of contradictions today. I guess there are a couple of events at this point which are running kinda parallel to events in the first book. I'm just thinking, it kinda reminds me of stuff that's happened before, and somehow it draws a contrast between her reaction then and now. But I think her odd behavior is starting to take its toll on the people around her.

I seem to be spending a little more time on Dr. Director. Two appearances in two chapters? But I suppose she's sort of worried a little about Shego, and she does want to look out for her. Maybe it kinda redeems her a little for being a total bitch to Shego previously. I'm not too inclined to believe that Shego's really all that busy with school paperwork, I believe she has her own reasons entirely for not going on this mission. Obviously, she definitely doesn't want to get roped in to do more of GJ's cleanup work.

I simply love that line, "You can be the gas station on my highway of love." I have no idea what it means, I have no idea where that came from, but it just sounded so perfect, when I think about Motor Ed. I personally think he has an attraction for strong women who have the ability to hurt him. He did hit on Shego quite a bit, and seems to have a masochistic tendency. Maybe I'm just stereotyping to all big muscled men with tattoos and numerous piercings.

Then there's Shego, who seems to be settling into her job and life quite well. I don't know, though... As satisfied as she seems, there's obvious stress there, considering who she is and her past within the school. At least her and Monique seem to have hit it off well, which should bode well for her future as friends with Kim and Ron. Then again, there's a palpable tension that is there, just below the surface, and it's only a matter of time before it bubbles to the surface.

And finally, I (and kgs-wy) would like to thank all of those that voted for Human Element for the Fannies, and for those of you that have voted in the finals. Keep on reading and enjoying your favorite stories, and good luck to all of the authors and stories in the Fannies!


	3. Chapter 3

It was a cold, blustery Friday morning when Kim trudged her way towards Ron's place at seven in the morning. While for the past eight years, Ron had been stopping by her place for a second breakfast, she felt that today would be a good change of pace. She'd show up at his place instead for breakfast, and instead of Kim driving the both of them to school, Shego could _drive_ them to school. That way they could save gas, and she wouldn't have the hassle of driving though the gauntlet of Middleton High School's parking lot.

It was also more convenient, as the three of them would be using one car, instead of two. Plus, Shego would get to park at the staff parking area, which is a lot closer to the school than the student parking. And she didn't mind avoiding the drive to school for once. Anyway, she tried to convince herself that whatever the reason was, it was _not_ to interrupt any alone time her boyfriend and Shego had together. After all, the planet's in a bad shape, and she _should_ save gas, right?

Nodding at her environmental consciousness, she walked up the Stoppables' driveway and around the side to the kitchen door. With a knock on the door, she let herself in from the chilly autumn wind, and stepped into the kitchen.

Jean Stoppable looked up and smiled at her son's girlfriend, before greeting her, "Good morning, Kimberly. What are you doing here so early in the morning? Did Ron forget something again?"

"Hi, Mrs. Stoppable," Kim returned her smile. "No, it's nothing this time... I just thought I'd ride with Shego and Ron to school this morning. Carpooling and all of that, we must do our part to conserve gas right?"

Jean smiled at the enthusiastic red-head. Compared to her own son, Kim has always been doing some good, whether it is saving the world from global maniacs or SUV gas guzzlers. "That's nice, Kimberly," she nodded at the girl. "Breakfast will be ready in a moment. Ron and Shego are in the living room with Hana, so you'll probably find them there."

"Right, thank you, Mrs. Stoppable," Kim replied, trying to hold the enthusiasm in her voice. She walked past the kitchen counter into the living room, and saw her boyfriend sitting on the floor playing with his adopted baby sister, while Shego was holding a newspaper in her hands.

The pale-green skinned woman was not exactly looking at the morning paper; instead it hung loosely in her fingers, while she gazed silently at Ron's antics while playing with Hana, a little smile playing across her face.

Ron, on the other hand, was being very animated as he held Hana in one hand while holding a large picture book in the other. His attention was fully focused on his hyperactive little sister, and he was doing all he could to hold on to her and stop the ninja baby from squirming out of his arms.

"Hey, now... C'mon Hana!" Ron pleaded. "This is important... Look here, look here, Hana..." He pointed at a picture in the book, while reading aloud, "This is a red ball... Red ball, Hana, can you say red ball?"

The little baby gurgled in amusement and clapped her hand distractedly, while glancing around the room.

"C'mon Hana," Ron asked again encouragingly. "This is serious... You don't want to be like your brother who couldn't read till he was four... C'mon... You can do it... Repeat after me... Red ball... Red ball, Hana..."

The little baby seemed to understand what he meant and gurgled something incomprehensible, along with other adorable baby sounds.

"Oh well," Ron sighed. "That's a good start... That was good effort." He smiled at the little baby and gave her a little squeeze and pecked her on top of her forehead. "Now, let's try the next one..."

Hana, however, seemed to have other thoughts on her mind, and her keen ninja baby senses seemed to have picked up another occupant in the room. She turned her head and looked in the direction of Kim, who was watching Ron playing with Hana, a dreamy look plastered on her face. The little baby squealed for joy, and squirmed a little in Ron's arms, before enunciating her first words ever: "Kay Pee!" The little tot squealed for joy in a very mangled, but clearly intelligible fashion.

Ron's and Shego's jaw literally dropped, and in an instant, the older woman was crouching down next to the little toddler on one knee and taking a good look at her. "Hana... Look over here, look at me. Did you just say your first word?"

"Kay Pee!" Hana gurgled out again in excitement, while looking over that Kim, who was still standing, largely unnoticed by the other two people in the room.

"Oh wow! That's great..." Ron gushed in enthusiasm. "Okay, okay... Try this one... Ron... Can you say Ron, Hana? Say Ron... Ron..."

"Stop that, Stoppable!" Shego bit down playfully at the blonde boy, as she lifted the little toddler into her arms and held her tenderly. "Come here, you little monster. Come here... Now... Can you say Sheila? Say Sheila for me, please?"

"Hey! Don't you think she should learn her brother's name first before yours?" Ron protested.

"Fat chance," Shego shot back quickly with a wide smile on her face, as she looked at the toddler in her arms. "If she can learn Princess's name, she can definitely learn mine. C'mon, Hana, you can do it... Say Sheila..."

"Aww... Don't hog my baby sister all to yourself," Ron whined a bit. "Get your own."

"Too bad, Ron! I want this one," Shego teased back with a light laugh.

"Aww..." Ron pleaded. "Let me hold her."

"Not until she learns my name." C'mon you little monster, say my name... Sheila... Sheila... Can you say Sheila?" Shego gently cooed to the little girl.

"Oh, sure, try to get her to ignore her brother's name," Ron whined jokingly, smiling at his baby sister, "You don't want to say Shego's name first, do you, Hana?"

"Kay Pee!" the little tot squealed again in response, bouncing slightly in the mint-hued woman's arms and holding a hand out as if trying to point to the kitchen.

"Why...?" Shego began, before she looked in the direction of the tot's gaze and outstretched hands. "Oh," she said with a slightly embarrassed look on her face, "Hey, Kim." She murmured with a surprisingly pleased smile on her face. "What's up?"

"Oh, hey KP!" Ron greeted her enthusiastically, as he turned his head to notice at his red-headed girlfriend. "What are you doing here?"

"What?" Kim pretended to look offended, her soft smile ruining the attempt. "Can't your girlfriend show up at your place for breakfast?"

"Oh," Ron cocked his head to the side and gave his girlfriend a different look. "Sure thing, KP. Anytime you want... I just thought you usually have breakfast with your parents."

"I thought today would be a good change of pace," Kim replied coolly. "Of course, you don't mind right? I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Nope!" Shego said, tickling Hana's nose with a lock of her hair, much to the ninja baby's delight.

"Not at all, KP," Ron reassured her. "I'm just teaching Hana here how to read. I'm not very good at it, she's being very restless..."

"Don't worry about it, Ron," Kim replied as she walked over to Shego and bent down to give the little baby a tickle under her chin. "From what I was seeing, you'll make an excellent father." Hana squirmed a little bit in her arms as Kim approached, and Shego grudgingly allowed Hana to essentially jump into the red-head's arms, squealing happily all the while. Kim favored Shego with a surprisingly warm smile, and added, "And Shego'd make a Hell of a mom, too, I think."

"Not likely," Shego muttered, her smile slipping slightly. Hana, picking up on Shego's change of mood, gurgled at her in a concerned tone. The tot's face fell into a surprisingly serious look until the mint-hued woman's smile returned even stronger than before. Convinced that Shego was happy, Hana gurgled gleefully and smiled back at Shego, before once again turning her attention to Kim.

"Heh, father?" Ron's face instantly paled three shades. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down sharply as he gulped hard.

"Don't worry, Ron," Kim insisted. "You're going to be a good father to our kids someday, right Shego?" She glanced over at the silent woman with raised eyebrows, as though looking for some confirmation.

Quickly averting her eyes towards the newspaper in her hand, Shego just mumbled something under her breath that seemed to sit between yes and maybe.

With a satisfied smile, Kim turned back to Ron, and leaned in and gave a peck to the cheek of her gawking boyfriend. "Don't worry about it, Ron," she repeated again as she swept her hair back behind her ear, before settling down to sit next to him and settling Hana into her arms. Tickling the little baby's nose, she smiled and made faces at Hana.

As Kim rocked the baby in her arms, she leaned into her boyfriend a little closer and somewhere at the back of her mind, she wished that there was someone to take this picture and capture this moment for her: Her, Ron and a little baby, together, just like the perfect family.

* * *

"Hey, do you have a minute?" Ron asked quietly, casting his gaze nervously up and down the school corridor before turning back to look at Shego. "Can we talk?"

"What about?" Shego glanced at her watch before stopping to turn to the blonde boy.

"It's about Kim," Ron's voice fell into a hushed low, as he glanced warily around the school. "She's been acting really different the last week or so..."

"Different how?" Shego asked, barely keeping down her own nerves, as she briefly recounted the week's events in her head. A week would put Ron's observations just after Kim got out of the hospital.

"I don't know," Ron shrugged. "Can we not talk about it... Out here?" he said, glancing around nervously. "it's just... Ever since Kim was in the hospital, you know... She's getting a little to touchy feely and pretty clingy. I know I'm pretty dense sometimes, but...?" He looked at Shego in confusion, the skin around his eyes tight with concern.

"So Kimmie's getting a little affectionate and you're running for the hills?" Shego pretended to tease him. "Sounds like someone's afraid of commitment."

"No..." Ron moaned. "That's not it..." He gave the hallways another furtive glance in case there were eavesdroppers. "Look... Can we talk someplace private?"

"Empty classroom," Shego pointed out, a slight tone of exasperation creeping into her voice. "This way."

"Right," Ron replied, as he walked alongside Shego down the hallway, the older woman finally stopping at a door and opening it. Ron waited for Shego to enter the room before poking his head out the doorway and glancing around, then only after he was satisfied about their privacy, he shut the door.

"Paranoid, much?" Shego asked with her arms crossed.

"Well..." Ron replied nervously as he walked towards the front row desks and sat on one. "I just don't want KP to catch us talking about her and all... And what I'm going to talk about, well... The rumor mill is pretty bad, here, y'know?" Shego nodded grudgingly at his comment, and she waved him on. "Shego, do you feel that there's something wrong with her?"

"If you think that Kimmie being a little more affectionate is a problem, then it's definitely not my problem," Shego replied curtly, her tone sharper than she'd intended.

"No, no, no, no, no," Ron said hastily. "I'm not saying I mind the affection... Well..."

"Then you do like Kim touching and kissing you all the time, with the occasional 'wake up' calls?"

"No... I mean, yes! Wait... Awww... Fuck!" Ron snapped as he slapped his forehead with his left hand. Shego's eyes widened in surprise, never having heard the young man use language that harsh before. She coughed her annoyance back as Ron continued in a more thoughtful tone than before. "I mean, it's more than that, something is bothering me more than that. It's like I don't get why she's acting this way."

"Why don't you explain this to me slowly so that I'll get it?" Shego bit her lip to help herself from getting too snappish about the subject.

"It's like..." Ron took a deep breath. "Okay... Here's what happened at lunch today... Tara came up to me and asked me which shade of purple I thought would be good for the decorations around the gym for the upcoming Homecoming dance. Then she gave me a hug and thanked me, and that's when KP showed up."

"Did Tara make it out alive?" Shego joked.

Ron gave her a sharp look for a moment, before he pushed it aside in his mind and continued, "No, no... It's more like... Kim came out of nowhere, grabbed my neck and hung on me like some junior high school girl with her first crush... Then when Tara gawked at us, since Kim's a rule stickler and doesn't do the PDA thing, she pulled me down for a really hard kiss... One that I'm pretty sure even if it was you that saw it, you'd have to give us detention."

"I'm sure she just missed you or something. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it?" Shego glanced uncomfortably around the room.

"I meant, detention, for the rest of the year," Ron went on. "Definitely enough to make Tara feel uncomfortable... And like I said, it's way unlike her to break the rules, ever since Mr. Barkin's all on his warpath against any sort of PDA on school grounds."

"Maybe she was just in the mood?" Shego asked.

"That's the thing! It's strange! KP's not that sort of person who'd do things because she feels like it, at least... Not without asking me if I..." Ron let out a loud, embarrassed sigh. "Especially if it breaks the rules at school! I mean, I sort of miss the old her, the innocent look, the soft, gentle kisses and the way she blushingly tells me stuff."

Shego rolled her eyes at the description. "C'mon, maybe Princess is growing up and changing, maybe she's just past the giggly high school girl stage."

"Shego..." Ron groaned. "I'd know if she was changing like that. Besides, you've see her acting that way too, right?"

Shego gazed at Ron for a moment before shrugging, "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Ron almost exploded. "She does it all the time, _especially_ when you're around. Like this morning during the car ride to school? She practically hung onto my arm and dragged me to sit in the back seat with her, even though I called shotgun."

Shego remained quiet, as she stared blankly at the blonde boy.

"And how about the other day when we were together with Monique at Bueno Nacho?" Ron pointed out. "She wasn't talking about _just_ a wakeup call, Shego!"

"Have you tried talking to her about it?" Shego queried in a quiet voice.

"Yes! Of course, that's the first thing I did!" Ron sighed in frustration. "And that's the scariest part... She doesn't sound like Kim 'I-Can-Do-Anything' Possible anymore... She's like... 'Oh, I just want to show my boyfriend how much I love him.' And 'I don't deserve a wonderful boyfriend like you.' Or she'll start asking weird questions like, 'You do love me, right?' or 'If anything happened to me, would you still love me forever?' and all sorts of weird questions like that. And it worries me, because I don't know what she's thinking."

"A girl wants a little reassurance now and then that her guy still loves her," Shego replied evenly.

"Thing is I do... I definitely do still love her! I tell her all the time and try to show her I do, but... She's never acted that way before, almost like she'd freak out unless I tell her..." Ron shook his head. "I thought that you might understand her better and be able to tell me why she is acting this way."

"Why me?" Shego wondered out loud.

"Well, you're a woman..." Ron began, before a hostile glare from Shego made him clam shut.

"No shit, Einstein," Shego growled sarcastically. "I wonder what gave that away." She shut her eyes and sighed, "Sorry about that, I've been a little distracted lately. I meant, why me and not one of Kimmie's other friends?"

"Various reasons," Ron mumbled evasively, and plunged on before Shego could open her mouth to say something, "Monique doesn't know much, because we never told her about the Reggie sitch, and what almost happened to Kim. Wade just tells me that all of Kim's biosigns are normal," Ron sighed. "I thought you might have some idea after all, you and Kim are kinda similar. And... With Reggie..." Ron looked away, obviously not comfortable revealing his other reason for approaching Shego.

"Perhaps," Shego replied, while taking a long hard look at Ron. "Maybe she's just scared of losing you."

"Why?" Ron replied while looking back at Shego, feeling more than a little puzzled. "I mean, nothing has changed between us."

"I don't know how much she has told you about the time we talked in the hospital," Shego began slowly. "But she was a little afraid that... Ahem... Someone else likes you... And she thinks that you might like them back." She cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Now why would she think that?" Ron replied hastily, blushing slightly as he looked down at his feet.

"Hey, I'm just saying, you know..." Shego continued without looking him in the eye. "Maybe that's why she's, you know... Getting intimate..."

"But... But... That's seriously not like her," Ron protested. "I mean, I'm the lucky one to have her..."

"Yeah, yeah," Shego snapped back in annoyance. "Ever stopped to think how a girl feels? Sure a girl can be tough and confident on the outside, but deep down she just wants her feelings returned, you know what I mean, Stoppable?"

Ron blinked twice at Shego's sudden outburst. Unsure of himself at the moment, his lips quivered as he managed to stammer out, "But I love her! I return her feelings as much as I can, but..."

Shego reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered, "Yeah, whatever!" she interrupted harshly, "Maybe she's just having a crisis of faith in your relationship. Things have been happening and she just went through a traumatic time..."

"I... I know, Shego," Ron shuffled uncomfortably before sitting back down, propping his elbows on the desk and resting his face in his palms. "But she won't tell me anything! She says she's fine, and there's nothing, nothing I can do to get her to open up... Every time something like this comes up, she gets a scared look in her eyes, then she's all 'I can do anything' for a second and tells me she's alright." He sighed, and the brief hitch in his shoulders told Shego he was fighting off tears. "She won't tell me what's wrong... But she says she's fine... I don't know, I want to think she is... Maybe she is fine and I'm just being dense..."

"If she doesn't say anything, how do you know she's really alright?" Shego snapped again. "Look, it might seem fine and all to you, but I swear Stoppable, if you believe her, you're denser than I thought! Kimmie was nearly raped. Speaking from personal experience, that can really fuck with someone like her! I refuse to believe that Kimmie there is over the whole Reggie sitch already."

"Then why is she doing all this?" Ron asked desperately. "Shego, please, help me understand here!"

Shego sighed, shaking her head, "Okay, so she's more lovey dovey, a little more jealous than normal, and she's giving you blow jobs when she stays over..." Ron said something under his breath that Shego didn't catch, and she leaned over, placing her hands on either side of the desk he sat at. "What?"

"It's more than just that, Shego..." Ron murmured, as if speaking the words were crushing him. "She... Last night, the reason she left early instead of staying..." Shego waited for him to continue, knowing that what he had to say was an important part of the problem with Kim. "She left 'cause she was pissed. At me."

"And you think this, why, exactly?" Shego asked leadingly when Ron didn't respond for several long moments.

Ron rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "Because I wouldn't have sex with her," He said blandly. Shego's eyes shot wide, then her brows scrunched up in confusion. Ron continued as if he hadn't seen Shego's reaction. "She... Begged me, Shego... She told me, 'If you love me like you say you do, you'd make love to me'... I refused..."

"And why?" Shego asked in concern, not wanting to hear the answer, but knowing that the young blond needed to let it out.

"I know we're not ready... I'm not, and before all this... When we started dating, she said she wanted to wait, to take it slow..." he sighed and shook his head in defeat. "Shego, when I refused, she was almost in tears... She said a couple things about herself..." He paused and took in a shaky breath, "So I tried to calm her down... I finally got her to admit she's, in her words, 'Not quite ready.', but... Then, I... I know it was kinda foolish now, but... I massaged her neck, and she said it wasn't helping..."

"Wasn't helping?" Shego asked, knowing what he meant, but wanting to keep him talking.

"I don't know! She seemed... Scared... So she asked me if I could do something for her..." he laid his hands listlessly on the desk, staring at them. "She asked me if I could return the favor..." he pointed at his mouth, blushing, leaving the rest unsaid.

"And you're complaining?" Shego asked sharply once again, her stomach knotting tightly.

"Yes! I don't want to do this stuff 'cause she's basically forcing herself on me!" he yelled, then continued in a calmer voice. "I wanted this... All of it to mean something! But like this? It's so... Meaningless..."

Shego sighed and covered her mouth with her hand. She stared hard at Ron for several seconds, wondering idly why he couldn't have been born years earlier and gone to her high school. Finally steeling herself, she plunged in head first, blasting her thoughts out before she could second guess herself. "Ron... I think... I think I know what's wrong," Shego said bluntly.

Ron looked at her with such a sickening hope in his eyes that she felt her heart rending itself in her chest.

"She's hurt, she's scared something like that will happen again, or _worse_. She wants her first time to be with _you_, not someone else... Someone she trusts to care about her and love her and want her the same way she wants you..."

"But I do want her! It's just..." Ron opened his mouth to say something, but paused for a moment, as if going over what he was about to say in his mind, then his eyes widened in surprise as the revelation struck him, and he paled considerably, "Shego..." he said, pronouncing her name a bit sharply, "You don't think she's... Because I said no, that it's made things worse, do you?" he pleaded guiltily.

"I think if she's not talking, and she's doing all this? Then something's really wrong with her, and it's not really your fault, Ron..." Shego muttered.

"What should I do about it?" Ron begged after a minute of silence. "It's not like she'll talk to me about it. Every time I ask her, she just clams up and refuses to talk about it, saying she's fine and she just wants to repay me for... Everything..."

"For starters, you could always show her that you really love her no matter what," Shego remarked blithely.

"I already do that, what else can I do?"

"Bribe her, Stoppable!" Shego raised her voice a little in impatience. "Bribe her, so that she'll open up to you!"

"Oh, you mean like a gift or something," Ron mused thoughtfully for a moment. "Yeah, I just got my allowance and I guess I could buy some flowers and chocolates for her."

"No, not flowers," Shego shook her head in exasperation. "Flowers are for dates, and chocolates are for Valentines. Get her something that reminds her that you love her. Something she can use all the time, a bracelet or something."

"Right, bracelet... Got it..." Ron muttered to himself while he committed it to memory. "But what about... Well..."

"Her newly aggressive sexual side?" Shego finished for him, and he nodded, blushing. "You don't want to make the last step, but you want her to know you want her, right?" Ron nodded again, and Shego continued in a deadpan tone, "Then buy her something sexy to wear..." She choked the last bit out, feeling the gorge rise in her throat telling Ron these things as she continued. "Tell her... Tell her that you'd really like to see her in that, except only when she's ready. When you're _both_ ready..." She closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed nervously, before looking back at Ron with a bitter expression.

"Hey, Shego..." Ron ventured nervously, after a moment of silent thought, "You're free later today right?"

"Uh huh?" Shego sighed, not really liking where this is going.

"Could you do me a really, really big favor?"

"What is it now?"

"Do you think you could give me a lift to the mall and help me pick out something for KP?" Ron asked. "I would really like a woman's opinion."

"Today?" Shego asked, glancing at her watch, "It's Ron-night, you know..." She started, and Ron nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yeah, KP has cheerleading practice today, and it's supposed to be a long one... So it's a good time to go shopping for a gift for her, so maybe I can give them to her tonight..." Ron replied with a smile. "Of course if you're not busy at all..."

"Fine," Shego groused. "I'm getting off at three, so meet you at three thirty by the staff car park?"

"Sounds good," Ron replied with a grin. "Thanks a lot, Shego."

"Thanks isn't good enough, you owe me one." Shego growled moodily.

"Err... Right..." Ron gulped at her sinister tone. "No prob then. Later."

Shego glanced at her watch again and wrote a permission slip out on a spare piece of paper from her day planner. She handed it to Ron and opened the door, and as they stepped out of the empty classroom, they gave each other a short hug before waving off. Ron had to run off, being late for his next class as he was. However, unknown to the two, a pair of cerulean eyes was watching from around a corner, as the person smiled inwardly as a plot was starting to form.

* * *

"One and two and three and four," Kim chanted as she clapped her hands to the beat. She was, as usual, overseeing the cheerleading practice of the Middleton High cheer squad in the gym, and they were trying out a new routine designed by Kim. "Two and two and three and four... No, no, no!" She yelled in frustration. "That's not the way! Liz, you're supposed to be over here at this point... You're two counts too slow... And Jessica, you're not jumping high enough, you almost caught your foot there and tripped over yourself... And Tara, lift your arms higher and kick out more. You're not putting enough effort into this..."

"Kim..." Tara whined between pants of breath. "This is the eighth time we're running this routine..."

"I know, and we're going to run it until it's perfect!" Kim snapped back.

"But Kim... Can we at least take a break?" Hope added.

"Yeah, Kim, we haven't had a break in the past hour," Jessica whined.

Kim let out a grunt of exasperation and said, "Fine! Five minutes."

"Kim, you okay?" Tara stepped up to speak to the red-head.

"Yeah, why?" Kim asked a bit distractedly as she watched the rest of her cheerleading squad slump tiredly over the gym floor, trying to catch their breaths.

"Kim... It's just... You're pushing us too hard," Tara hesitantly ventured. "This is a new routine after all, and... And I think you should give the girls some time to practice on our own first."

"Look, T," Kim snapped back. "It's a simple routine, and we should be able to do it. It's a simpler version of our Nationals routine last year."

"I know... But..." Tara protested helplessly. "You think you could cut us a little slack? Miss G-..." she paused for a moment as she remembered Shego's warning from earlier in the week, that any student can call her either Sheila or Shego, but not Miss Go or suffer extra laps in class. "Sheila's been pushing us cheerleaders pretty hard in gym to get our stamina up. I think, um..."

"T, you of all people should know how much effort we have to put into if we want to get ready for the homecoming game," Kim replied, her tone much colder after Tara's latest comment.

"Kim... What is this about? You've been picking on me and pointing out all my mistakes," Tara asked, "When normally you're supportive and try to get us to work aroun-..."

"No I haven't," Kim interrupted defensively.

"Yes, you have, and it's not just me noticing it! Especially today, you seem to be harshing on me, hell, on _everyone_ a lot more than normally..." Tara said softly. Kim's face flushed angrily, and she drew in a breath to unload on the blonde when a snide voice interrupted her from behind.

"That's because she's having trouble in paradise," Bonnie cooed as she slid up next to those two with a viper-like grin on her face.

"Bonnie," Kim's voice greeted the latest arrival dangerously.

"What do you mean, B?" Tara asked the brown-haired cheerleader.

"Don't you remember what happened today, while you were talking to a certain _loser_," Bonnie made every effort to emphasize the insult. "K here was right in there, moving pretty quickly to make sure you stay away from _her_ loser."

"Bonnie, don't call Ron a loser," Tara reproached the brunette before Kim could open her mouth, her tone a bit sharper than normal. "He's a very nice and helpful person."

"Tsk tsk," Bonnie clicked her tongue patronizingly. "Tara, don't you see? That's why Kim's picking on you. Defending Ron is supposed to be her job..."

The two cheerleaders glanced over at Kim who was clearly seething in anger at the remark.

"Oh, look," Bonnie let out a malicious laugh. "She's angry... But really, Tara, I think Kim here has bigger things to worry about than you."

"What do you mean, Bonnie?" Kim finally managed to move her clenched jaw muscles to spit out those words.

"Do you know, Tara, about our new gym teacher, Miss Go?" Bonnie went on ignoring Kim, but casting an evil sideways glance at the red-head. "She's pretty close to Ron. I hear they ride to school together. Oh wait, who used to ride to school together with that _loser_? Oh, that's right, it was you Kim..." Bonnie rounded on Kim, her tone as sharp as a dagger, "I guess you are getting replaced..."

"Bonnie," Tara quickly tried to placate the ensuing cataclysm. "Ron's not replacing Kim, they're still together. Sheila's probably a close friend or something."

"Kim and Ron used to be close friends too, before they started dating..." Bonnie pointed out with a little smirk.

"Shego and Ron are _just_ friends," Kim interjected, with far more hostility in her voice than intended.

"Oh really..." Bonnie asked with a leering grin. "You know what I overheard today? Ron and Shego were making plans to go to the mall later today. _Together._"

"I don't get it, Bonnie," Tara replied in a confused tone. "We always go to the mall together."

"But... We're just..." Bonnie quickly took a deep breath to erase that look of surprise on her face, before it hardened again into a smirk. "I mean... They were seen hugging after coming out of an empty classroom _together._ God knows what happened in there. When Marcella comes out of an empty classroom with her boyfriend Bobby Fadden, we hear stories in the girl's locker room..."

"But Sheila is a teacher, maybe she needed to talk to Ron in private..." Tara pointed out again.

"Hey, I know the difference between a friend hug and an intimate hug, okay?" Bonnie snapped back. "He grabbed her ass too! Like there was no tomorrow!" Bonnie exclaimed, her tone almost delirious as she saw Kim's face freeze into a stone-like glare.

"Ron would never do that, he's too much of a gentleman!" Tara said nervously, glancing at the dangerously fuming Kim. "You can ask Kim if he's ever taken advantage of a girl before. I don't think Ron is that kind of guy, right Kim?" Most of the other cheerleaders nodded and spoke up in agreement, drawing a frown from Bonnie. Tara was about to go on but turned back to look at Kim when she heard two sets of knuckles cracking forcefully.

"Ooo... Great, Ms. Perfect is pissed," Bonnie smirked, angling her upper body towards a visibly shaking Kim, "Maybe that's why there's so much trouble in paradise... I mean, it was all over the news that K's sidekick helped crack the case about that rapist attorney over in Go City... Maybe his independent streak and your over-achieving, pissy attitude has him looking elsewhere, eh?"

"Bonnie!" Tara growled, rounding on her friend viciously, "Just shut up for five seco-..." she began, but a calm, deadly voice behind her froze Tara's words in her throat.

"Oh, no, I won't hit you, B..." Kim grated, "After all, every week I get into knockdown, drag out fights with people that could tear Brick apart like he was a toothpick, and I win! So if I were to hit, you, B, you'd break and fall to the ground like a weeping pile of shit!" The entire cheer squad winced at Kim's comment. Bonnie stared at Kim, her face paling at the implication in the red-head's words.

Bonnie flinched as Kim suddenly leaned in and dug her nails into Bonnie's shoulders, and whispered into the brunette's ear, "You really should be less open if you don't want that date you set up tonight to get out, you know?"

The comment caught Bonnie completely off guard, and she blanched noticeably before an angry flush took over her features.

"Now, since you seem so dead set on causing needless drama, I'm going to leave." Kim said in a seemingly calm, airy voice, "After all, I have better things to do with my life than argue with the Queen Bitch of Middleton High's food chain!" With that, Kim turned and stalked towards the gym's main doors.

"Don't come crying to us if your loser breaks up with you, bitch!" Bonnie called after her, her tone nastier than before.

"Fuck off, Rockwaller!" Kim roared back, holding her arm up and extending her middle finger back at Bonnie, before lowering her arms and slamming the doors open.

"Ooo… Great… Practice is canceled," Bonnie smirked.

"Oh Ron..." Tara sighed sadly. "Hope you make it out alive. And you!" she rounded on Bonnie again, grabbing the brunette by the arm roughly, dragging her towards the locker room. "We need to talk! Give us five minutes of _privacy_, girls..." she growled at the rest of the cheer squad, most of who merely nodded before falling into gossiping over Kim's explosion.

"Why do you care about that sappy loser anyway? And why did you have Kim's back like that, I thought we were best friends!" Bonnie bit out at the blonde as Tara forced the locker room door closed. "Are you still crushing on him? You know there are other better people for you out there. People who like and notice you for one."

"Like who?" Tara said sarcastically, "Josh? He cared more about his art than me."

"Like... Like..." Bonnie racked her mind nervously, before quickly snapping back in frustration. "Doesn't matter okay? They'll tell you when they're ready."

"Right." Tara said, crossing her arms and leaning against the tiled wall of the locker room entryway. "As for why I care? I may be a ditz at times, but you and I both know I'm not stupid, B! You and I and the rest of the cheer squad have been wondering what's up with her since she got out of the hospital, so why did you go off on her like you did today? You've never done something that low before!"

"What do you mean, I didn-..." Bonnie began, only to be cut off by Tara.

"Do you want them to break up?" Tara interrupted harshly, "What, got some jealousy thing going on? For Kim? Or Ron, maybe? Or are you just jealous that they have a beautiful relationship and you can't keep a boyfriend to save your own soul?"

Bonnie flinched at Tara's words and she hung her head at the accusations being leveled at her by her best friend. _Only real friend_... She amended silently before looking at Tara with hurt eyes. "Jealous? Of either of them? Okay, so their relationship is good, if it's so good, why... Today?" she asked helplessly, holding her hands out towards the gym. "And you still haven't answered my question, are you still crushing on that loser?" she spat out her last word like a curse, but flinched when Tara leveled an angry glare at her, for perhaps the first time in their friendship.

"No…" Tara said firmly, her eyes staring intently into Bonnie's.

"Tara, I..." Bonnie choked out, before swallowing and looking down at her feet, "Why are you defending her... I mean, she was being way too hard on you in there..."

"Because Kim's going through a goddamn hard time, B!" Tara screeched. When Bonnie looked up and cocked her head uncomprehendingly at Tara, the blonde growled. "Bonnie, something happened to her, I don't know what, but something _did_ happen. And then she went to the hospital for a few days! The guy was a serial rapist and according to the news, he hurt a lot of people, really badly, B! So something happened to her, I don't know what, but she's hurting! And you come into practice pulling bullshit like this?"

"I... I just wanted her to back off of you..." Bonnie whispered, not looking at Tara, a deep crimson blush spreading over her features. "That was the only thing I could think of..."

"Okay, fine..." Tara said, deflating from her angry state. "But you can't keep doing this to Kim, Bonnie... Y'know, it was kinda refreshing the last couple weeks... You haven't been nearly as hardcore into the food chain, even against Kim and Ron... And it's been, well, nice being around you. But today? She wasn't even picking on you, Bonnie..."

Bonnie opened her mouth to say something, but no words seemed forthcoming, so she closed her mouth and nodded mutely. After a moment of silence from Tara, she looked up and swallowed the lump in her throat before whispering, "I... I kinda screwed up today, then, huh?"

"Yeah, B... Look, I... Appreciate that you were trying to defend me, B, I really do... It means a _lot_... But I'm getting tired of all this... she looked away from Bonnie for a moment, "Just, if you pull something like this again you can count me out of your personal life... Forever!"

Bonnie nodded, swallowing again before whispering, "Okay. I... Yeah, I screwed up, I'm sorry."

"Accepted," Tara said coolly, before sighing heavily, "But I'm not the only one you own an apology to..." Bonnie nodded, looking around nervously before settling back on Tara. The two girls stared at each other for a moment before averting their gaze. Finally, to break the awkward silence, Bonnie spoke up, "So... Do you still want to head out to the mall with me? I mean..."

"Sure, but what are we going to do there?" Tara asked. "I know what you suggested earlier, but I'm not in the mood for window shopping, and after this argument here..."

"Probably, maybe... Stick with dinner and a show," Bonnie said with a nervous smile.

"Really?" Tara asked in puzzlement, then she saw the nervous glint in Bonnie's eyes, "What show?"

"You choose?" Bonnie said, letting out a nervous little laugh. "I... I know you're pissed at me… But…" She wanted to be disgusted with the pleading tone in her voice as she stared at Tara, but she just couldn't help herself.

* * *

Red.

That's all she could see. One moment Bonnie was ragging on her about Ron and Shego, and the next moment she was furtively glancing around Middleton Mall for them.

She didn't know how she got there; she'd ridden with Shego and Ron to school today. Maybe she ran, maybe she hitched a ride; it didn't matter to her anymore. She was at the mall, and she wasn't sure whether it was relief or panic that struck her when she saw Shego's car at the parking lot.

_They're here_ Her mind echoed those words as they bounced around her head with hollow reverberations, causing her to rub her aching temples. She tried to focus, to look for them, but all she could see was...

Red.

Everywhere she looked, there were couples. Couples holding hands... Couples come to the mall together. Her heart seized in panic. She had to get to him fast.

She found herself sprinting across the atrium of the mall, throwing anxious glances at every green, black or blonde shadow.

A hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder and her body instinctively tensed, reaching for the offending limb and grasping it, twisting it around, before a shrill cry called out to her, "Kim!"

Her vision slowly cleared, the throbbing in her chest subsiding a little. She shook her head twice to clear her eyes before realizing her mistake and letting go of her vice-like grip. Mumbling, the red-head said, "I'm sorry Monique, I didn't realize you were there."

"Kim, you're acting all whacked," Monique winced in pain as she rubbed her twisted shoulder. "I called to you each time you ran past Club Banana! Four times, girl! And you didn't hear me at all. What's gotten into you?"

"It's just..." Kim nervously said as she looked around the mall furtively. She paused, then blurted out, "Have you seen Ron?"

"Uh huh, girl," Monique nodded. "He was here a while ago, and we chatted for a bit. Why?"

"Was he with anyone?" Kim hissed.

"Girl, he was with Shego, of course," Monique shook her head. "She gave him a ride here after all. So what's the deal?"

"Where did they go?"

"I think they were going to get tickets to the late showing over at the theater next to the parking lot..." Monique glanced up in surprise. "Hey, Kim, where are you going?"

When the red-head didn't reply, and instead turned to head towards the theater, Monique tentatively reached her hand out and grabbed Kim's arm again, ready to jump back as though she was grabbing at a snake. It didn't help one bit when Kim suddenly whirled around and hissed angrily at Monique. "What, Mon?"

"Kim... Kim..." Monique whimpered as she cringed, fearing that her friend would strike her. "What's gotten into you?"

"Let go of me," Kim growled hostilely.

A startled Monique instantly let go of her hand, and watched numbly as Kim sprinted off in the direction of the movie theater. Gulping in fear, she reached for her cell phone and dialed a number. She just hoped she was in time.

The red-head was already nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Kim had ducked out the nearest exit, and her legs were carrying her as fast as she could towards the theater. There was only one thing on her mind; she had to get there as fast as possible. She came to a halt just outside the theater, pausing only to gasp for breath. She'd been running non-stop since she left the school; she knew that now because she had just started to feel the numbness in her legs. Leaning on one hand against the wall, she stared at the entrance of the theater, searching for any sign of that familiar blonde head of hair.

There were a few people walking in and out of the theater, making it slow for a Friday night. It was mostly a couple of high school kids watching some matinee shows, and it was a lovely day outside... Her eyes darted around, trying to find Ron or Shego before finally settling on a green and black figure leaning against the corner of the building. In her arms, she clutched a large stuffed toy, a Platycow Cuddlebuddy with a neat red bow tied under its chin.

Kim found herself stalking towards the unsuspecting woman. Her fists were clenching and unclenching. Her teeth were making grinding noises. No sign of Ron nearby, she noted to herself mentally with a manic grin, as she thought of the things she could do. _Of the things I _will_ do!_

As she got closer, the woman finally noticed her presence. She was blushing as she tried to hide the offending plush toy behind her back. Shego called out with a nervous smile, "Hey Kim... You're still in your cheerleader's uniform? I'm sure Ron would love to see you walking around like that..."

Her words were cut short by a deep snarl, as Kim hissed dangerously, "Where's Ron?"

"He's gone to get some ice-cream," Shego jerked her head towards the mall. "So what are you..."

Kim gave the older woman a toothy grin as she stepped closer. Her eyes fell towards the Cuddlebuddy that Shego was trying to hide behind her back. "What's that?" Her tone was accusing. "Did Ron buy that for you?"

"What? This?" Shego gulped nervously. "Oh it's nothing, nothing at all..."

"Really?" Kim glared daggers at the woman. "Did Ron give it to you?"

"What? No!" Shego denied. "Why would he give me such a thing?"

"Because he likes you!" Kim shouted accusingly.

"Kim?' Shego looked at the red-head in bewilderment. "Are you okay?"

"Don't fucking ask me if I'm okay!" Kim raged. "Are you on a date with Ron?"

"What?" Shego gasped in surprise as the red-head quickly bore down on her, causing her to take a step back.

"Are you dating Ron behind my back?" Kim viciously spat out her accusation again.

"What are you talking about, Kim?" Shego protested innocently. "I thought we talked about this before. Ron and I are just friends..."

"Oh really?" Kim sneered derisively. "Then what are you doing here at the mall with him?" She jabbed her finger hostilely into the older woman's chest.

"Hey, hey!" Shego raised her voice back at Kim. "Watch it, okay? Look, Princess. We had this talk before, and Ron and I are just friends."

"Oh yeah? Do friends just come out of empty classrooms together? Do friends grope each other in the hallways? Do friends go on dates to the mall? You're stealing Ron away from me!" Kim shouted accusingly.

"What? No!" Shego protested. "I never... We never..."

"You're lying!" Kim screamed, the veins in her throat standing out. "You're lying!"

"Calm down, Kim!" Shego held up her hands in protest.

Kim angrily swatted her arms away as she held up a fist, ready to strike, "Don't you tell me to calm down! I hate you!"

"Kimmie, stop it!" Shego cried out, as she turned fully to face the red-head, waving her hands helplessly. "There's nothing between us, really..."

"Stay away from Ron!" Kim shrieked, "I'm warning you..."

"Kim..." Shego tried to get a word in to placate the furious girl.

"Stay. Away." Kim clenched her jaw hard, moving in close to Shego.

"Kim..." Shego pled helplessly, "Listen to me..."

Kim didn't know what came over her, but she reached out and gripped the older woman by her shoulders, squeezing until her nails bit in hard. As Shego protested with a strangled growl of pain, the red-head drew her head back and for the briefest moments her face bore a neutral expression. Then she snarled in rage, her face taking on a hateful scowl as she swung her head forward for a vicious head butt.

A resounding crunch echoed across the front of the theater as Kim's forehead impacted into Shego's nose before the older woman could even think to flinch out of the way.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I'm really busy, so forgive me if short.

Yes, before someone points it out, it pretty much happened all in the same day. But if Kim left in a huff last night, why's she so cheery this morning with Ron? Yes, that was intentional. Just to show how weird things are. Besides, in this mindset, Kim would likely be back first thing the next morning to patch things up with Ron.

Plus I think the world isn't as oblivious as it is to Kim's behavioral change. Some pity her, some take advantage of it, and some revel in it. Of course not everyone's a heartless bitch.

I'm sort of writing this from experience, when someone is having relationship issues, consulting a third party should only be done out of desperation. I think this is why Ron didn't turn to Shego first... After all, it doesn't just suck to have someone ask your opinion about their relationship and how to help them, but to also like that same person and hope their relationship fails, it hurts like crazy. But Shego's a stronger person than that, now, and she's already shown that she's not going to try and sabotage that. But she doesn't have to like it, and she is slightly bitter about it.

And yes, finally, some angsty drama and I hope the buildup to this was worth it.


	4. Chapter 4

A sharp, stabbing pain shot up her nose, straight through to her brain. The pain was intense enough that Shego to momentarily lose all motor functions, her limbs falling slack to her sides. She stumbled back a few steps before slipping and landing unceremoniously on her rear end. The Cuddlebuddy in her hands slipped loose from her grasp and bounced away from her, finally resting face down on the sidewalk.

Shego had barely raised a hand to touch her bleeding nose before a red and purple blur jumped on her and straddled her across the waist, pinning her down to the ground.

"Hang on a minute, Pri..." Shego managed to holler before a glancing blow struck the side of her jaw.

The green-hued woman was scarcely able to deflect the next fist as it barreled down towards her face. She raised both her arms to shield her face, which Kim seemed to be focusing on; the red-head's punches were weak and haphazardly thrown, and Shego easily shrugged them off. But there was no way she was going to take any of this, especially from some teenage cheerleader who had bested her so many times before.

Gritting her teeth in anger, Shego's hands shot up and gripped Kim's forearms, stopping the younger woman's frantic pummeling. Her fighting instinct came back to her, and she grinned wryly. Kim had made a mistake she would never normally make while fighting the former villainess: she'd let herself get caught by her hands. A slow, vicious smirk spread across Shego's lips. All she had to do was to turn her powers on and listen for the hissing sound of burnt flesh as the blisters bubbled up and savor the victory of finally defeating Kim Possible...

She glanced up momentarily at her assailant, only to have that victorious, gleeful smirk fall off her face in an instant.

Kim was crying as she hit the woman beneath her. Her eyes were filled with tears and her nose was runny. While she was trying her best not to make a sound, she was clearly choking back the sobs that wouldn't stop coming.

Shego hesitated for a moment; her grip on Kim's arms slacked a little. Taking advantage of her lapse in concentration, Kim viciously pulled herself free from Shego's grip. With a clear opening, she quickly grasped her left hand around Shego's throat, driving her right fist downwards and hard towards Shego's face.

Shego gasped in pain, and there was a bright burst of light as the back of her head smacked hard on the concrete sidewalk, and she felt an intense dizziness hit her. Coughing twice to clear her airway against Kim's tightening hand, Shego instinctively shot out her left hand to grasp Kim's shoulder, digging her claws deep into the soft flesh around the red-head's deltoid.

The brief retaliatory attack did not even frazzle the red-head as she continued to pound away. The pain was already far removed from her mind, and she was solely focused on inflicting as much hurt and damage as she could on the woman she perceived to have caused her so much grief.

"Kim!" Shego choked out in panic, "Stop it!"

"Stay! Away! From! Ron!" She accentuated each word with reckless punches that glanced off Shego's forearms. Her voice was now an almost indiscernible shriek, and she was beyond caring what she was doing.

With a loud grunt, Shego bucked her hips and threw the red-head off-balance. The momentary respite she gained was enough to grip Kim's collar with both hands and dragged her over, throwing her to the side. Quickly scrambling to her feet, she gingerly leaned against the side of the building for support, careful to keep as much distance between her and the red-head as possible.

"Kim," she called out to the sobbing figure huddling on the edge of the sidewalk. "Kim, can you hear me?"

Kim's head instantly shot up, strands of red-hair plastered across her tear and sweat covered face. Her eyes held a pure, deadly hatred towards Shego, one the older woman hadn't seen since Kim had kicked her into the Li'l Diablo control tower. The red-head's teeth were clenched tightly and bared like a wild animal, and she let loose an inarticulate growl. With an unbelievable speed, she pounced towards Shego, ready to claw her eyes out.

"Kim!" Shego yelled again at the charging redhead. "Listen to me!"

The time for words was long gone, and the red-head met the green-hued woman straight on, both hands slashing forward in a double palm strike to try and slam Shego's shoulders into the side of the building. Shego wasn't about to be caught off-guard by her again and slid forward, placing herself within Kim's reach. Using Kim's momentum while grasping a wrist, Shego twisted it sharply outwards while side-stepping, locking the red-head's arm painfully for the brief moment before she twisted, throwing the younger woman several feet away from her. "Fine, Kimmie, you want me so bad, come an' get me!" Shego growled before turning and sprinting down the face of the movie theater. _Gotta__ get the hell away from here before __someone calls __security or __the cops!_

"We're not done yet!" Kim managed to holler, dashing after Shego.

Kim blindly shoved a pedestrian out of her way as she gave chase. She ignored the plaintive cry of whoever she'd accosted as she concentrated on the form running away from her.

_Okay, there should be a park right over here... _Shego thought to herself, spying the pedestrian skybridge that would take her across the busy Middleton Boulevard and into the relative calm of the park. She raced up the open air spiral ramp that led to the bridge proper, and was surprised to hear Kim gaining on her. She doubled her efforts to gain some distance on Kim when she stepped onto the covered bridge, only to be stunned as Kim dropped down in front of her. Before Shego could think, she was defending herself from a blindingly fast front snap kick directed at her chest.

The raven-haired woman quickly twisted her left arm up and around, deflecting the kick above her right shoulder. Shego jumped forward and started down the other side, then changed her mind and hopping up to the railing and jumping over the noise pollution barriers along the roadway next to the park. She hoped the barriers would stop passersby from seeing the knockdown, drag out fight she feared this confrontation was going to turn into. Finally, stopping her run at a quiet, secluded corner of the park, she dug her heels into the grassy earth and turned to face her pursuer.

"What the flying Christ set you off like this, Princess?" Shego taunted as Kim dropped down nearby and glared at the mint-hued woman.

"It doesn't matter! I know what you're trying to do!" Kim screamed, jumping forward in a bid to take Shego off guard. Her elbow almost connected with Shego's temple, the declaration having almost worked, taking Shego briefly off of her guard. "You stole my boyfriend! And my friends! And you even started taking my family away from me!" she again accentuated each exclamation with a punch or other strike, and Shego found herself being pushed back by the ferocity of the attacks.

"How the Hell did you come up with this dumb idea, Cupcake?" Shego spat out, using an older pet name that always seemed to annoy Kim, hoping to enrage the younger woman enough to make a mistake. Kim growled inarticulately at this, throwing an even more ferocious series of elbows and hand strikes as well as low kicks and knees, driving Shego even further into the park. Kim paused and backed up to take a few quick breaths, and Shego raised an eyebrow in seeming amusement, drawling out, "What was that, Cupcake? I can't understand you when you mumble!"

Kim's eyes flew wide and she tensed for the briefest of seconds. "It's obvious what you're doing, you fucking bitch!" Kim growled, throwing a wild roundhouse kick at Shego's head.

Shego had been anticipating this, so she dropped and spun around with a leg held out, hoping to sweep Kim off of her feet. The red-head fell with a strangled growl onto the soft ground, followed by a subdued gasp as the wind was knocked out of her.

Shego pounced, not giving Kim time to recover. She wrapped her legs around Kim's knees, holding them in place with her far superior strength. She then grasped Kim's hands, twisting and bending them at an awkward angle across the red-head's opposite shoulders and bearing all of her weight down upon the younger woman. Kim cried out in pain, but struggled, trying to head-butt Shego again, before trying to tear at one of Shego's hands with her teeth. "Bitch, let me up!" Kim spat, wincing in pain as she twisted her hands futilely within Shego's grasp.

Not wanting to risk being bitten, Shego brought Kim's hands together and clamped her right hand tightly around the fingers of both of the Kim's. She then hauled the red-head's arms and hands above her head before driving her left forearm into Kim's throat, not quite hard enough to cut off the airway, but more than enough to be painful. The red-head let out a feral scream of pain, before trying to twist her body even harder out of the woman's grasp. She quickly dug her fingernails into the mint-hued woman's right hand, trying desperately to pull herself free from Shego's super-human grip. She continued to kick ineffectively with her feet, hoping to throw the older woman's balance off, but failing miserably.

"Kimmie!" Shego barked, "Calm the fuck down! I don't know how you came up with this, but this is enough!"

Despite all the punishment that Kim was inflicting on her right hand, Shego held on tightly with gritted teeth. Slowly she felt the strength of the red-head slip away as her limbs flailed uselessly as she tried to free herself from Shego's grip. Finally Kim's struggles stopped, her strength spent, and she stared blankly at Shego.

"Kimmie..." Shego said softly while shaking her head, fearful concern in her voice at the blank expression on Kim's face, "Talk to me..."

Kim stared up at Shego with a confused expression, before something slowly took hold within her jade green eyes, something that made Kim relax inexplicably. Then she closed her eyes, muttering something intelligible as she shook her head, trying one last time to buck Shego off of her.

"Kim..." Shego finally managed to breathe out. "I'm going to let you go now... Do you hear me?"

The red-head gave no sign of a reply, only a slight choking sound as she lay back weakly against the ground.

Shego relaxed her grip slightly, as she asked the red-head in a warning tone, "Are you going to listen to me now?"

Again there was no sign of assent, but to her credit, Shego noted that Kim wasn't struggling anymore.

"Kim?" Shego relaxed her hold a little more. Deciding that it was safe enough to let go of her, Shego untangled herself from the cheerleader, sitting across from her and stretching her legs out in front of her. She refused to take her eyes off the red-head and intently studied her features before deciding what to do next.

Kim's hands were buried in her face, and her shoulders were hitching slightly. Her normally silky hair was now a mess of tangles, wet with tears and sweat. Her cheerleading uniform was ruffled and had ridden up her midriff a little too provocatively, but she seemed far beyond caring about her modesty.

"Kim?" Shego called to her one last time, as gently prodded the cheerleader's shoulder.

Kim flinched from her touch, and tried to pull away. Her hand quickly shot out and smacked away the proffered hand before a soft inaudible mumble was heard.

Shego glanced at the red-head wonderingly. "What?"

"I said," Kim threw her hands down on her lap as she sat up, napping her head up in anger. "You can have him!"

"Him?" Shego looked at the red-head in surprise. "You mean, Ron?"

"Yes!" Kim spat the word like a curse, before she choked and coughed twice. With a sniffle, she wiped her nose with the back of her hand, not caring about the mess she was making.

The ashen taste of victory over Kim Possible had never been this bitter. Shego stared blankly at the disheveled teen, as she echoed in confusion, "Why?"

"You like him, don't you?" Kim spat out the rising taste of bile in her mouth. "And he likes you too..."

"Kimmie, we're just friends," Shego explained with a forlorn look. "Nothing more."

"Yeah right," Kim replied sardonically. "What about your makeout sessions in school?"

"Makeout sessions?" Shego asked in surprise. "There's nothing of that sort going on, whether at school or at his place. We're just two _regular_ friends."

"Don't lie!" Kim raised her voice accusingly. "Just don't lie to me... I know it, and you don't have to patronize me and treat me like an idiot... People have seen you two in the hallways..."

"'People'?" Shego cocked her head to the side, and gave Kim a long hard look. "Who is it?"

"Doesn't matter," Kim replied carelessly, "But someone told me about it... She said you were seen coming out of an empty classroom together and hugging in the hallways."

"Kim..." Shego let out a sigh. "I barely remember... Was it today?"

"You mean there were other times?" Kim shot back accusingly.

"No... Kim, listen to me..." Shego started. "Ron wanted to talk to me in private."

"Oh really?" Kim rolled her eyes. "Private makeout sessions?"

"You're being really difficult here, you know that?" Shego's voice took on a steel-like quality as she glared at the red-head. "Would you listen to me? I never made out with Ron! He had something important he wanted my help with."

"See?" Kim crowed, as she shouted at the woman. "See what I mean? He likes you! He likes-_likes _you! Why didn't he talk to me about it first? Why did he have to go to you for help first?"

Shego raised an eyebrow, with impatience scrawled clearly across her features. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance at the red-head as she shook her head before raising her voice back at Kim, "What is your damned problem, girl? You think just because he asked me something first, means he likes me more? You know what?" Shego stabbed her finger accusingly at Kim. "Just for once, drag your head out of your ass and listen to me! You want know what was so important that he wanted to talk to me about in private that he didn't want to say to you? It's something he's already spoken to you about..." Kim cocked her head slightly at Shego, and the older woman took a breath, unleashing her next words with a sharp exhalation, "It was about you! You!"

"Me?" Kim feebly echoed in surprise.

"Yeah, you!" Shego raged, as she stabbed the air with her finger twice more for good measure. "He said you were acting different, you were crazy. Well he didn't say that, but I get the impression that's what he meant. And seeing that you just attacked me, I think he's right; you _are_ fucking crazy. That's why he asked me to help, wanted to know what was wrong with you; the way you go all green, and damn near beat up any girl that goes within five feet of Ron!"

"Well," Kim shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, and glanced nervously aside as she mumbled defensively. "You didn't have to grab his butt..."

"Christ, girl!" Shego threw up her hands in frustration. "How many times do I have to tell you that I didn't do anything of that sort? Look, that blond ass has 'Property of Kim Possible' stamped all over it!"

"But Bonnie said..."

"Bonnie?" Shego glared daggers at Kim. "_Bonnie_? Is she the person putting these ideas into your head?"

"She saw you groping him in the hallway," Kim explained meekly. "And she isn't the onl-..."

"Gah!" Shego grunted out in frustration. "Listen here, Princess. You believe anything she says? From half the stories you and Ron tell me about her, that girl is nothing but trouble! And was anyone you may have heard anything about this from part of her little social clique?" Kim shrugged and grunted noncommittally, drawing a groan of frustration from Shego. "And you let her get into your head? Who're you going to trust here: me or Bonnie?"

Kim looked at the green-hued woman uncomfortably.

Shego shut her eyes and bit her lip, before letting out a loud sigh, "Okay, fine, you don't trust me. I get it... You don't trust me, I know you have no reason to trust me, but at least after these two months, could you at least talk to me first before attacking me like that. Let me put it this way then, who are you going to believe? Bonnie, who spreads lies about you wherever she goes? Or Ron, your _faithful_ boyfriend, who has been by your side since pre-school?"

"So there's nothing between you and Ron?" Kim asked again uncertainly.

"God damn! Yes! Give the cheerleader a Nobel fucking Prize!" Shego whooped sarcastically. "Of course not! Don't you think that from the moment Ron became my boyfriend I would have rubbed it in your face every minute of every day?"

Kim nodded numbly as she thought about it.

"Good," Shego finally muttered. "Now do you still want me to have him?"

Numbly, the red-head almost imperceptibly nodded her head, with her eyes firmly fixed on a spot at her feet.

With a loud impatient sigh, Shego asked tiredly, "Now what, Princess?"

"I just... He... He thinks I'm crazy..." Kim looked ready to start bawling again. "Besides, you'd be better for hi-..."

"Hold up, Princess," Shego hastily interrupted the red-head. "I'm the one calling you crazy... Not Ron... He just said he was getting uncomfortable with all your advances..."

"See?" Kim howled before breaking out into uncontrollable sobs. "He doesn't like me anymore!"

"Kimmie! Kimmie!" Shego snapped at the hysterical teen to get her attention. She reached up and pulled aside Kim's hands to look straight into her eyes. "What's wrong with you? I never said he doesn't like you anymore. He still does like you, very much. Hell, he loves you! It's just that you've been forcing him into some really intimate moments..."

"But I love him so much..." Kim cried, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand.

"Sure you do," Shego replied dryly. "But is it love when you offer yourself to him like some drunken prom date?" At Shego's words, Kim coughed nervously and looked away. "No, don't try to bullshit your way out of this, Princess! Ron told me everything you've done; from the morning wake-up calls to the way you _force__d_ him to steal third base, then stormed out 'cause he still wouldn't sleep with you!"

"I... Shego, I'm..." Kim said, shrugging helplessly and staring at the older woman with a confused, hurt expression.

"Look, Kimmie... Ron's a very healthy and horny male teenager, and if you were any other girl and he was damn near any other guy, he'd have taken advantage of you in a heartbeat. But you're not, you're Kim Possible... The girl whom he loves, yes, _loves_ with all his heart and respects too much to actually treat you like that. He knows you, and he knows you are better than that. He wants to share all of that shit with you, and as goddamn cliché as it sounds, he wanted to make each and every moment special for you! So why do you insist on pushing him down this road and wasting your relationship for some roll in the hay?"

"But that's what I want!" Kim insisted, choking back another sob. "Why doesn't Ron believe me when I say I want to take our relationship there?"

"Oh, I don't know," Shego drawled sarcastically. "Maybe it has something to do with the promise you two made to each other not to do something like that until you're _both_ ready to? Or maybe it's all about how, in the past month, you've become really aggressive and physical in your displays of affection? Or maybe it is the fact that you don't seem to have that same confidence in your relationship with Ron as you do with your 'I can do anything' attitude?"

Kim stared mutely at the older woman. After a long silent moment, she whispered, "I just want him to love me."

"And he does!" Shego snorted with impatience. "Take it from someone who has been around the block. I've slept around enough to know that sex and love are _n__o__t_ the same thing. If you think Ron would love you more because you spread your legs for him, then you've seriously misjudged that boy. I know that, and I know you do too. Kimmie, why do you want him to sleep with you so badly?"

"It's just... I..." Kim mumbled uncomfortably. "How could Ron love someone like me?"

"Like you? _Now_ what the hell are you talking about?" Shego's brow furrowed in confusion. "You lost me there."

"Look at me!" Kim stated loudly through bitter tears. "I'm just a plain tomboy with a flat chest! I can't compete with girls like Bonnie... Or Tara... Or even you!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Shego half-yelled. "I don't call you Princess because you look like some fat ugly cow or some scrawny stick of a woman! You'd honestly look quite hot dressed like that if only you weren't bawling your eyes out."

"But I'm not!" Kim wailed. "There are no guys lining up to ask me out..."

"Kimberly..." Shego called to her softly, and as Kim turned to look at her, Shego delivered a jaw-cracking slap that left a red welt for the world to see. "That is the most selfish thing I have ever heard you say, Kimberly Possible," Shego's voice grated dangerously. "How could you ever think of something like that when you're dating an incredible man like Ron?"

Rubbing the side of her face, Kim tried her best to look ashamed and hastily added, "I love Ron very much, and I want to be with him... But... But... It's nice to get noticed... The way Tara does... Or you do... Ron... He doesn't even notice me half the time I'm around..." Kim stopped speaking and bit her lip hard, nearly drawing blood.

Shego snorted, shaking her head in wonder, "Look Princess, for one, I think you're hot... And secondly, you don't see men lining up to take me out either. And don't even think like that, because half the time all I hear about at home is how good you look... But I swear, Princess... If you hurt Ron in any way..."

"I won't," Kim promised. "I won't... I just... I'm a bad person, aren't I?" She looked ready to burst out in fresh tears again.

"And I'm Mother Theresa," Shego shot back. "Kimmie, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know," Kim mumbled. After a long pause, she hesitantly ventured, "Shego, do you think... If something happened to me, would Ron still love me?"

"What do you mean by 'something'?"

"Like..." Kim searched for the words she was looking for. "Like... What if... When I was kidnapped... What if you and Ron hadn't rescued me in time?"

"Oh, God," Shego gave Kim a long hard look. "This is about Reggie, isn't it?"

"No..." Kim denied quickly. "It's nothing... I was just thinking."

"You were thinking what if you were _raped_?" Shego noticed Kim visibly wince at the word. She reached out and placed a hand on the younger woman's shoulder, before continuing, "Kimmie, I know you haven't really talked to anyone about what happened that night. We all know nothing happened, but you wouldn't talk about it, even with Ron..."

"I'm..." Kim looked up helplessly at the older woman before turning away. "It's nothing... Really..."

"Princess, lying is _not_ your thing," Shego warned the red-head. "So tell me... What's _really_ bothering you?"

"It's... I'm..." Kim struggled uncomfortably, searching for the right words, before glancing helplessly up at Shego again.

"Kimmie," Shego spoke softly. "You can tell me, I'll understand. I was in the almost same position you are now ten years ago. Except it was a lot worse. I didn't have a caring boyfriend who came to my rescue or a loving family who supported me through the aftermath."

Kim glanced around desperately, before letting her eyes settle back on the older woman, "Promise not to tell anyone?" She quietly whispered.

"I promise," Shego nodded her head with a sincere look in her eyes.

"I..." Kim stared hard into the green eyes of the other woman, before finally sighing in defeat. She opened her mouth hesitantly, and slowly chose her words, as though each word caused her unimaginable, "I... Shego... When he touched you... Did you... Like it?"

"No, of course..." The words died quickly in Shego's throat, as the misery in Kim's eyes became clear. "Oh... Kim..." She extended both hands and pulled the teenager close to her chest. With her arms around her, Shego placed her cheek on the top of Kim's head, gently crooning to the red-head. "Oh, Kim... Is that what's been bothering you?"

She felt the red-head nod her head slowly twice, as Kim pulled herself closer in the older woman's embrace. "I... When he was... Touching me... When his thumb was in my mouth, I... I was..." Shego felt Kim jerk against her, as if hiccupping, then the red-head swallowed forcibly, before drawing a few ragged breaths and continuing in the barest of whispers. "I liked it..." Holding Kim tenderly, Shego glanced down at girl leaning against her chest, quietly sobbing against her. "I... I didn't... W-want to... Bu-but I did!" she whimpered several seconds later, twisting the ripped fabric of Shego's sweater in her hands desperately.

"Kim..." Shego repeated called her name quietly, while she stroked her red mane. "What did he do to you? Oh god, Kim... It was those drugs he gave you… It's not your fault… I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... It's all my fault that you crossed his path..."

The two women sat there quietly on the hillock, the peace of the park only broken by an occasional sniffle. When the hitching of the red-head's shoulders finally stopped, Shego drew her back and lifted up her chin with a finger.

"Feeling slightly better now, Pumpkin?" Shego asked.

Numbly, the cheerleader nodded her head. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and gazed ashamedly at the mess she made on the older woman's top.

Following her eyes, Shego glanced down at her top, before replying, "Don't worry about it, you can buy me a new shirt later." She sighed and cocked her head slightly at the red-head. "Kim, we have more important things to worry about. You need to talk to Ron about this."

Kim's face instantly screwed up in panic, and she shook her head wildly. Her mouth formed a little circle, as she kept mouthing the words, "No, no, no, no, no..."

"Kim!" Shego's voice became a little harsher. "It's okay... He'll understand..."

"No..." Kim pulled away from the green-hued woman slightly. "He won't... What if he doesn't like me anymore? What if he thinks... Thinks I'm a..." The words got stuck in her throat, as she choked and started coughing.

"Kim!" Shego called her name again. "Listen to me, you need to talk to someone about this. Someone you can trust. Look at you, it's tearing you up from the inside, and it's already strained your relationships with the people you love. Ron, your mom and dad, the Tweebs, Ron's parents, even I'm worried about you!"

"But... I can't tell Ron... I can't, I can't..." Kim repeated over and over miserably. "Please... Not Ron..."

"You have to! Sooner or later, he has to know," Shego insisted.

"No... No... I can't... Please, Shego, don't make me tell Ron..." Kim begged the older woman. "Please... Don't... At least... Not yet..."

"You need to talk to someone about it!" Shego argued back. "Look, you don't want to talk to Ron, you don't want to talk to your mom, and from what I hear, you definitely don't want to talk to a counselor! Kim, who do you want to talk to?"

Kim glanced around nervously, before fixing her eyes expectantly on the older woman who was busy musing. Her stare remained unnoticed and Shego pondered the problem for a few minutes, until Shego finally looked up, growling in exasperation.

"I can't think of anyone!" She uttered in frustration. "C'mon, Kimmie, you know your friends better than I do, it's either someone close to you that we all can trust or it's the counselor for you and I don't care if I have to strap you down and tie you up but you are going to... Why the hell are you looking at me like that?"

Kim stared pleadingly at the older woman as she kept her eyes fixed on the older woman.

"Oh hell, no!" Shego ranted. "There's no way... You're not dragging me into this..."

"Please?" Kim replied in a soft whisper. "If it has to be someone... I rather it be you..."

"Kim..." Shego looked at the red-head with a pained expression, letting her hands drop to her lap.

"I know it's selfish of me to ask you..." Kim started. "But you understand... Because... Because..."

"Because I was a rape victim?" Shego finished the rest of the sentence for her in an acidic tone.

Kim blushed as she turned away from the older woman. "I wasn't meaning that... Not exactly anyway... I was going to say you would understand how I feel the most. Because you like Ron as much as I do..."

"No I don't," Shego quickly denied. "Like I said, we're just friends..."

"Shego," Kim laid a hand on one of Shego's. "I think you like him a lot more than you let on... And... And... It's okay..." Kim looked guiltily at the back of her hand for a moment. "I... I think you can help me... Not be so out of control..."

"Kim..." Shego shook her head.

"Please?"

"As much as I like to," Shego sighed. "I'm not a professional... And maybe I can't help you the way a certified counselor can."

"Please..." Kim pleaded. "You already know more than most people... About... This kinda stuff... And I know that when you took child development as your major degree, you took psychology as a minor degree..." Shego gave Kim a hard stare, and Kim swallowed slightly. "I had Wade check on your degree when you started teaching as Miss Go... Anyway, if it doesn't work out? I'll go to a real counselor... If it's not working, I promise."

"Kim... It's not really that simple," Shego started.

"Please, you're the only one I can talk to," Kim cried. "Shego, please... Help me..."

Shego silently contemplated Kim's words; after several long minutes, she let out a reluctant sigh and slowly slumped her shoulders in a defeated manner. With a slow nod, Shego looked deep into Kim's eyes, looking for any deception there, "Y'know... When you said you wanted to be my friend, I was kind of looking forward to it. When you attacked me, I wasn't sure what was going on, but... I wanted to be your friend, Kimmie, and even after all this, I still do... But above all, I don't want you to hurt Ron anymore, so against my better judgment..."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Kim almost cried enthusiastically as she unexpectedly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Shego in a tight hug.

"Hang on a minute," Shego pushed her off for a minute and held the surprised red-head by her shoulders. "You want my help, you got to agree to my conditions first."

Reluctantly, Kim nodded.

"First of all, you've got to apologize to everyone, and I mean _everyone_. That includes all the people you've hurt. That includes people like Tara, Monique, your mom, Ron and especially me."

"Sorry," Kim quietly whispered, as she gulped down what remained of her pride.

"Not right now, Kimmie dear," Shego purred sweetly. "I was thinking more of a public apology."

Kim looked a slight shade of green that would have made the older woman proud.

"Second, you've got to pay for busting my nose up like this," Shego pointed at the crusting blood on her nose. "You're taking me shopping tomorrow at your expense."

With a defeated sigh, Kim nodded slowly.

"And finally, you have to be honest with me. All the time," Shego said. "I can't help you if you refuse to tell me things, and you promise to be honest with me, or else we call it quits, okay?"

"I promise," Kim whispered, her face a study of sorrow, shame and assurance.

"And," Shego said with a note of finality, "If I think you need professional help, I'm going to consult with the psychologist your mother wanted you to see." Kim opened her mouth to protest, but Shego held up a finger to silence her. "This is nonnegotiable, Princess! I do not want to make a mistake with you! Especially if it would be my fault, understand?"

Kim's expression was torn between arguing with the older woman and assent, and Shego held her breath in anticipation. Finally Kim sighed, leaning back and looking down at the ground between them.

"Good," Shego lay back on the grass looking straight up at the sky for a moment. She smirked at the clouds as the first few snowflakes of the year fell lazily across her vision, wondering if it was a good or bad sign. After a moment of contemplation, she decided that, for now anyway, it seemed things might just be okay. "Hey Kim?"

"Yeah?" The red-head replied hesitantly, as she looked over at the older woman lying in the grass.

"You promised to be honest with me, right?"

"Uh huh?"

"Well..." Shego took a deep breath before continuing, a wicked grin forming on her lips. "How big is Ron in his pants?"

* * *

An hour and two chimmeritos later at the Bueno Nacho outlet in the mall, Kim and Ron were sitting in a booth, Kim wearing a chagrined, hopeless expression, and Ron a serious, disturbed expression. Opposite them sat a very bored looking raven-haired woman and a highly excitable Club Banana retail employee.

Monique gave Kim a long hard look before opening her mouth, "_You_ are taking _Shego_ shopping tomorrow at _your_ expense? Girl, you've never been half that nice to me..."

"Hey, it's not like I want to," Kim mumbled uncomfortably. "I'm sorry for hitting her, after all."

"Assaulting, you mean?" Ron asked with uncharacteristic candor, drawing a blush and a shameful nod from the red-head.

"But you did twist my arm!" Monique nursed her hand with a little pout. "C'mon, there's this pair of pants I just got to have."

"Monique!" Kim yelped. "I'm already broke!"

"Girl, I'm your BFF!" Monique riposted. "Now according to the BFF charter outlined in the unofficial MHS student rules, you can't treat anyone nicer than your BFF. And that includes, friends, family, boyfriends and especially gym teachers."

"I already said I was sorry! Aww... Ron!" Kim whined to her blond boyfriend who was busy staring at the empty tray in front of him. "Back me up here."

"Um..." Ron said listlessly, "Sorry, KP, you dug yourself in this one..."

Kim stared slack jawed at her boyfriend's lack of support. _What's going on he-_

"Ahem..." Shego finally decided to throw in her two cents, interrupting Kim's troubled thoughts. "Now, seeing as I got a free pass tomorrow, why don't you come along with us? I suppose I could always use someone with an eye for fashion, unlike Kimmie over there. Then, you can just add your pants to my tab, which Princess here will take care of."

"Shego!" Kim gasped.

"Really?" Monique clapped her hands for joy. "Oh goodie! Shego, you're the best! Forget everything they ever said about you in the hallways, you're my favorite teacher already!"

"Hmm?" Shego cocked her head to the side and eyed Monique carefully. "So what are they saying about me at school?"

"Oh, good stuff, bad stuff... The usual..." Monique replied airily. "Nothing you got to be concerned about... Now Mr. Barkin is a whole different..."

"Hang up a minute there, Muffin..." Shego held up her hand.

"Muffin?" Monique gaped.

"Muffin..." Shego repeated again in a serious voice. "It's easier to remember. Monique, Muffin. Okay? Now I don't care one bit about Barkin, just tell me what they've been saying about me in school."

"Umm..." Monique glanced over at Kim. "Muffin?"

Kim just shrugged and Ron piped up in an annoyed tone, "Hey, at least you're not buffoon, okay?"

Monique let out a little snicker, before waving her hands, "Okay fine, fine... Whatever you want, you're still my favorite teacher. So all the girls are really jealous of you because their boyfriends are paying more attention to you in gym class than them. Now Lana Sherrington figures you to be some sort of porn star, the way you dress in spandex in class and used to wear that catsuit when you wer-..."

"Hey!" Shego interrupted, sounding miffed. "It helps me move around easier."

Monique shrugged, "Well, rumor is her boyfriend Richard Goethe has a picture of you in his locker, and it's conveniently taped over her picture, so it's just a spat of jealousy. Now, that's one of the more flattering pieces of gossip around you. Otherwise it ranges from you being a complete plastic doll where you're all fake, to being a blood-sucking succubus preying on innocent young boys."

Shego snorted in laughter. "Succubus?"

"Err... That was me..." Kim meekly confessed. "I got carried away with my ranting when you first came..."

"Right, Princess," Shego remarked dryly. "We've got to work on that."

"So anyway," Monique went back to her story. "Now generally, the student body is wondering what Barkin's done to convince you to come back as a teacher. Top of the list is that he knocked you up, and your hiatus was because you were pregnant with Barkin's kids; the other side of that coin is that you were recovering from an abortio-..."

Shego's eyes opened wide, as her face turned a deeper shade of seasick green. "Abortion?" she exclaimed, drawing a few eyes towards the table. She briefly turned her trademark glare on the curious, who went back to minding their own business before continuing. "Aside from the fact that I wouldn't do that... You've got to be kidding me! That was less than three months ago! Ugh... Pregnant with Barkin's kids?"

"Well, someone said you had a miscarriage after a month instead of an abortion, and it took you a while to recover, and now you're back," Monique shrugged, turning to look at Kim who was trying to stifle her giggles.

"But students have also been noticing that you're coming to school every day with Ron, and more than a few people have picked up on the fact that you two are really close, and a select few," Monique summarily gestured at herself, "Know for a fact that you are staying over at his place."

"Yeah, so?" Shego remarked with feigned disinterest.

"So a few of them suggest that you have actually defeated Kim over there, replaced her with an animatronic robot, and then you're actually dating Ron secretly until he's out of high school where you two can openly declare your relationship," Monique explained with a smirk.

Shego rolled her eyes at that. "I'm going to put forward a memo to Barkin that the kids at school have way too much time on their hands and a way too overactive imaginations."

"There's also the one," Monique continued as if not hearing Shego's comment, "Where you and Kim had your brains swapped, and Kim's parent's don't know, so you're pretending to be Kim, while Kim's in your body sleeping over at Ron's," Monique remarked with pride at her ability to regurgitate nearly any rumor from the high school's hallways. "Or should I say, sleeping _with_ Ron."

"Monique!" Kim blurted out suddenly, kicking out with her foot at the general direction of her BFF.

"Ow!" Monique yelled as a sneaker connected with her shin. "Girl! That hurt! Ow, ow, ow... I'm just telling it like it is, and not making any of this up!"

"Muffin, you know, if it's any consolation," Shego gave the girl her trademarked evil smirk. "I think Kim has more than enough in her college savings to spring for a new pair of shoes too."

"Ooh!" Monique's eyes lit up with delight. "Forget favorite teacher, you're my new BFF!"

"Shego!" Kim moaned miserably. "You're enjoying this way too much!"

"What can I say?" Shego touched her nose gently. She had already washed off most of the crusted blood, and her wounds had healed pretty fast. But it still felt tender. "I'm an evil woman."

"Evil... I like!" Monique chirped happily. "So... Shego... Now that I got you here, there are simply some things I've got to know."

"Go ahead, shoot," Shego replied with a bored look on her face.

"Okay... Ahem... According to Kim here," Monique looked sweetly over at the blushing red-head. "I'd just like to confirm for the record, do you have a major crush on blond and oblivious over there?" She nodded in the direction of Ron, who was trying to distract himself by constructing a house out of Diablo Sauce™ sachets with his ever-present naked mole rat, Rufus. He glanced over at Monique after her question, his eyes hooded but his bearing tense.

"Nope," Shego denied immediately. "Never have."

"Right..." Monique replied with a widening grin. "Next question, who would you rather go on a date with, Mr. Barkin or Ron?"

Shego shot her a death glare. "One date, with Barkin, in his tweed suit, and listening to stories about his army buddies, is more than what any woman should ever have to put up with for the rest of her life."

"Right..." Monique nodded knowingly. "So in a fight between you and Kim, who would win?"

"Of course me," Shego remarked coolly.

"So not!" Kim shot back, rising to the challenge.

"Hey, Princess, I just beat you," Shego smirked as she pointed out. "Like an hour ago."

"I wasn't on top of my game..." Kim replied defensively.

"Girls, girls..." Monique quickly interrupted the two. "Kim, it's Shego's turn to answer the questions now..." Turning her head back to the raven-haired woman with an amused look on her face, she asked, "So Shego, is it true that you're also into girls?"

"What?" Shego shot Kim a dirty look, who shrugged innocently.

"It's just something I heard," Monique smiled knowingly. "From a very reliable source that can do anything."

"Princess!" Shego half-roared across the table.

"I'm sorry, Shego!" Kim shrunk back in her seat. "It's just that Monique can be very persistent and thorough with her questions..."

"Right..." Shego sat back with her arms crossed, and glared at the African-American. "Whatever she said, Muffin, I neither deny nor affirm it, and in addition to that, I plead the Fifth."

"Ooh... You are good," Monique smirked. "Okay, so... One last question then, and it's one that many students are wondering too... Would you ever consider dating a student?"

"What?" Shego asked in shock, her eyes widening noticeably. "What the Hell kind of question is that?

Kim glanced over at her friend and opened her mouth to echo Shego's shocked query, when the sound of a palm slamming down on the table made all three of the women jump in surprise. They all turned to Ron, who sat with a palm lying flat on the table, his shoulders hunched forward angrily and an outright hostile look on his face directed at Monique, "Why does any of this matter, Monique?" Ron grated in a voice just above a whisper.

"Wha-...?" Monique got out, followed by a confused stammer.

"'What' is exactly what I should be asking you, Mon!" Ron continued, "Shego just got attacked by Kim, her nose almost broken and if you can't see, she still has a black eye! And here you are, grilling her like a gossip hound on TV!" he threw up his hands and rolled his eyes.

"I..." Monique began, and Ron returned his baleful glare to her, "I'm sorry, Ron... I didn't notice anything on Shego, and I didn't think it was that serious."

"Ron, aren't you being a bit harsh?" Shego asked.

"Maybe," he stared coldly at the mint hued woman. "But it is a big deal."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Monique snipped out, drawing Ron's eyes back to her as she stood up, "I figured that something went down, so I thought maybe a little humor, or maybe just letting things slide and just acting normal would be a good thing!" she said as she wiped a stray tear from her eye.

Kim, Rufus and Shego all nodded in agreement with Monique, Shego speaking for the three of them, "Ron, it's okay. We all need to lighten up after all of that…"

Ron sighed, glancing between his four friends, before settling his eyes back on the table, "Mon, I'm sorry for blowing up, but things haven't been normal for the past couple of weeks…"

"I know… That's why I thought we could use a laugh..." Monique said, shaking her head slowly. "Look, I'll go ahead and go home, I still have some homework... Catch you tomorrow for lunch on my break at CB, Ron?"

"Sure, and I think we need to head too," he replied, glancing at Shego and Kim, who nodded. Rufus clambered up Ron's arm to give him a hug around his neck before heading to his normal resting place in Ron's pants.

"'Kay," Monique said, glancing back at her friends before walking off, her voice still hurt from Ron's outburst, "See you guys tomorrow."

Ron, Kim and Shego made their way out of the mall towards the parking lot. They silently piled into Shego's car, but the ride back to the Stoppable residence was quiet and tense. Ron kept glancing at Shego and back at Kim, then sighing and returned his stare forward. Shego and Kim both wondered about his change of attitude at Bueno Nacho, from relieved neutrality to giving Monique a tongue lashing for asking Shego a few minor questions. As the Stoppable house finally came into view, he relaxed slightly, but there was still an obvious tension in his shoulders and the set of his eyes.

"Well," Shego said softly, her voice as tense as the air in her car, "We're home, Ron."

"Yeah," he said after a brief pause, "Hey, Shego? Could you… Kim and I need to talk."

Shego pursed her lips before answering, her tone full of concern. "Ron, I don't think right now is the bes-..." Shego began, but Kim's soft voice interrupted her, cutting her off like a knife.

"Shego, it's alright... You said I should talk to him, I'm just..." she waved a hand around in front of her, the other twirling a lock of hair nervously.

"Are you sure, Kimmie?" Shego asked, her eyebrows knit in concern.

"I'll..." Kim looked at Ron, her face mirroring Shego's concern, "We'll be alright, Shego..."

"Okay," Shego finally replied, looking over at Ron, "I'll go drive around for a bit and have a few smokes... Just take things slow, Ron, okay? She's gone through a lot lately..."

"I know," Ron said after a few moments, nodding with a neutral expression on his face. He got out of the car, shutting the door firmly and walking towards his home, leaving Kim in the back seat to let herself out.

Shego sighed as Kim got out and carefully closed the door, pinching the bridge of her nose with a thumb and forefinger. She brooded, staring at their retreating forms for a moment before pulling her pack of cigarettes out. She took one out and lit it with her plasma, then looked back up to see Kim staring forlornly at her. She gave the red-head a reassuring smile as she shifted the car into gear, and sped off, hoping to find a way to calm her troubled thoughts.

Kim glanced back from the threshold of the front door as Shego accelerated away, then back at Ron's home with a sense of foreboding she'd never felt before. Swallowing both her fear and what little pride she had left and forced herself past the door and into the house. Ron was standing by the couch with his arms crossed, looking at her sternly at her.

"Kim," Ron started in a cold, even tone, as he stood in the living room, with a fixed glare on his girlfriend.

"Ron?" Kim asked softly, not wanting to anger him further as she walked up to him, "What's wrong? Why did you snap at Monique like that at Buen-..."

Ron cut her short by holding up a finger in front of her face. He shut his eyes as he thought of what he wanted to say. Kim had never seen him this way before. His ever-present smile and boyish charms had disappeared, and instead this mask of stone had taken its place. His cold demeanor unnerved Kim, terrified her… She knew he was angry at her; he had every right to be. Silently she ran through her mind a list of things to say, and hoped that he would find it in his heart to forgive her. Her fear, compounded by her shame, of hurting her very best friend, made her tremble. She felt like she was six years old again, watching that disapproving and disappointed look as her parents scolded her when she had left the house without their permission.

"Ron?" Her lower lip quivered, as she felt the cold wall separating them. She wanted to touch him, wanted him to touch her and tell her that it'll be alright, but somehow, she wondered if that was even possible. "Ron, please… Talk to me."

"Kimberly," he called her by her full name, which made her wince. His serious tone filled her heart with dread as he continued, "I am very upset and angry with you. After what you did…"

"Ron, it's no big. Shego forgave me…" Kim started pleadingly, feeling very diminutive next to her blond boyfriend.

"Wrong!" Ron raised his voice enough to make her jump in fright. He had never raised her voice at her. Never… She bit her lower lip as she felt her heart sinking lower. "It's very big!" Ron shouted. "How could you? How could you do such a thing? I mean…" Ron threw up his hands in frustration. "Look at me, Kim!" He glared angrily at her as she meekly lifted her eyes up to his.

"Ron… I'm sorry…" Kim mumbled, almost in tears.

"Sorry isn't good enough this time," Ron replied coldly. "Look, Kim… I'm so angry at you that I don't know… I don't care if Shego forgave you, or Monique forgave you or even your parents forgave you… I don't care if you tried to force me to do things I don't want to do, but to think that you would just go out there and attack Shego? What were you thinking?"

"I was…" Kim bit her lower lip sharply to try to numb the pain in her heart. "I was… I thought…"

"You thought I was cheating on you, didn't you?" Ron accused her.

Kim shut her eyes tight, as she turned her head away. The most she could do was numbly nod her head.

"Why?" Ron's question bounced around her head.

"Because…" Kim mumbled as she thought of what went through her head earlier today.

"Is it because you don't trust me?" Ron asked coldly.

Kim's eyes shot up in panic, as she denied fervently, "No, Ron! Never… I trust you… I really do…"

"I don't think you do," Ron replied stoically. "I know I can't be trusted with some things, like how to handle money, or to get good grades, or take on the bad guys, or even to get into a good college." He eyed her carefully as her eyes were filled with terror. "But one thing I thought I could trust myself with, was to be a good friend."

"I do… Ron, believe me, I do trust you," Kim insisted, close to tears, "You... You're the only reason I succeed in missions... And..." she looked down, wanting to say more but her constricting throat betrayed her into silence.

"Then tell me one thing, Kimberly," Ron demanded. "Tell me one thing, why didn't you confront me first? Why didn't you ask me, before attacking Shego?"

"I…" Her voice faltered, as she choked back a sob. "Ron… Please…"

"So you don't trust me," Ron concluded for her.

She wanted nothing more at that moment than to hold him, and show him that she trusted him. Yet the mere arms length between them felt like a widening chasm, and Kim had never felt more alone in her entire life. She wanted to cry, beg and scream, and deny it all, but it was useless; she knew he was right.

"Ron…" Kim blinked back her tears, as she said jerkily. "You're right… I don't trust you... Because... Because..." she looked down from his eyes, her voice coming out as a bare whisper, "Because I can't trust myself... I'm sorry."

Ron stared wordlessly at her, his eyes hard and scrutinizing. He saw the tears she had fought streaming down her face after her strange admission, an admission that caught him completely off guard, and finally his expression softened. He reached up a hand to her cheek, and brushed away a tear with his thumb. In a pained voice he whispered to her, "Kim, please don't cry."

She grabbed his hand tightly and pressed it hard against her face, cherishing his touch which she felt she would never feel again. "Ron?" she leaned forward a little, and found herself falling into his open arms. She instantly inhaled, letting his scent flood her being again, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder as she wiped her tear-stained face on the front of his shirt. And she quietly sobbed, as she felt two large hands reach around her to hold her and gently stroke her hair.

"Kim… I'm sorry, but…" Ron murmured gently to her. "I had to let you know how angry I was. You could have come and talked to me, you could have let me know what's really bothering you. You know me; I'm always there for you, no matter what. So why didn't you let me help you? Why can't you trust me?"

Kim shut her eyes tight as she held on to her boyfriend. She just didn't quite know which one would hurt him more, her refusal to answer his question, or the truth that she was afraid that he'd hate her. "Ron… I can't…"

"Kim," his chest heaved heavily, before pushing her away from him slightly. She paled when she saw his face looking at her as though he was being burnt alive. "So… You still don't trust me."

Her heart broke for the second time that day, as a real physical pain clutched her chest and threatened to tear her apart from in the inside. "Ron…" her voice squeaked out in fear, as she bit her lower lip until she tasted a coppery tang in her mouth. "I… I can't tell you…"

"Kim!" Ron bellowed in anger. "What's wrong with you? This secret of yours almost broke us up! _Almost_, Kim! I have a good mind to walk out right now…"

"Ron, please don't!" Kim cried out in panic. "Please… Listen to me… Don't… Please… I need you… I need you… Don't leave me…" Her terror-stricken voice left the blond speechless, rooting him in place. Fresh tears were streaming down the side of her face, as she pleaded with him to stay.

"I'm sorry, Kim…" Ron whispered, as he reached out to hold her against his chest again. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm… I'm sorry… I just can't help it… I'm so angry… Not at you really but at myself. I should have seen how much you were hurting; I should have known you needed me. It's just… I'm angry at myself that I wasn't there to help you."

Kim quietly tried to quell her sobs, as she felt soothed by the rumbling of Ron's voice in his chest. With each passing moment, she felt a little calmer, a little more in control. "Ron?" She quietly whispered into his shirt.

"Yeah, KP?"

"What if I were to tell you that I'm scared… No, terrified of losing you?" Kim hesitantly spoke in a muffled voice. "What if… What if something... Happened... And you didn't love me anymore?"

"Kim," Ron called her softly. "I could never _not_ love you. You're my best friend and my girlfriend. You're the most important person in the world to me."

"But… What if… I wasn't a virgin?" Kim asked softly, as she braced herself for the rejection that would ensue.

"What?" Ron exploded in shock as he grabbed Kim by her shoulders. "KP? Did I come too late to save you? Oh my god, KP, I'm sorry… I'm such a bad boyfriend… I'm…"

"No, Ron…" Kim cut off his tirade suddenly with a finger on his lips. A weak smile formed as she felt for the first time, that her fears were unwarranted. "Ron, you came just in time… You saved me. You really did save me."

"Then?" Ron asked confusedly. "Why did you ask something like that?"

"Just because…" Kim started, as she looked into those brown eyes. "Just because I thought you'd hate me if something had happened to me."

"Kim…" Ron spoke clearly, his tone angry again, but a more subdued anger this time. "I could never hate you... Never! _E__specially_ when it's not your fault... I'm just… I just wished you'd have a little more faith in me. Kim, I believe in you… I believe you are the girl who could do anything. I just wish you could believe in me that same way too…"

Kim hung her head guiltily. As much as she feared Ron rejecting her would hurt, the look of disappointment in his eyes crushed her completely. "Ron, I... I'm really, truly sorry," Kim apologized again. "I should have known better… Next time, I promise."

"Next time?"

The finality in his voice made her turn cold, as she looked up fearfully. "Ron?" She asked, terrified of his next words.

"How about now, KP?" Ron replied, with a soft smile, his regular smile returning to his features.

"Now is good," Kim found herself returning his smile easily, as a great weight lifted off her shoulders. "Now's good…" She snuggled easily into his arms, finally allowing herself to breathe a sigh of relief. As he held her in his arms, she wondered just how silly she'd been. She'd almost lost him. Almost… "Ron?"

"Uh huh?" Ron grunted.

"Could you please…" Kim asked softly. "Do... Do you think I'm beautiful?"

"Beautiful?" Ron furrowed his brow as he thought for a moment. "I'm not sure if that word quite cut it to describe you… You make the word beautiful look plain."

Kim stifled a giggle as she gazed lovingly at her boyfriend. "Then how would you describe me?"

"I don't know, KP," Ron shrugged as he returned her gaze. "I'm not sure if there's even a word to describe how badical you look to me. I might just need to invent one… Way better than badical, way better than bondiggity… Even more awesome than awesomesauce, and wonderful than wunderbar… It's definitely somewhere in the same galaxy as bodacious and badilicious…"

Kim smiled to herself as she listened to her boyfriend ramble in his own characteristically nonsensical way, but it made perfect sense to her. In his own Ron way of doing things, he was trying to tell her that everything was going to be alright.

And she believed him.

* * *

"Sheegsy, do you have to go now?" Dr. Drakken asked plaintively as watched his lover dressing hurriedly.

"Drew, we already discussed this," the mint-hued woman said with an exasperated sigh, smiling at the naked blue-skinned man in her bed. "If you want me to get this done, and done quietly, I have to case the place some more, right? Especially if Team Possible is to be kept out of the loop!"

"Yes, I know, but... I haven't seen you in almost two weeks!" he whined, pouting in a surprisingly effective manner.

The mint-hued woman stopped in the middle of clasping her bra, smiling at him before sauntering over in an overtly sexual manner, "Well, you can help me dress so we both have something to look forward to when I steal those super conductors from the space center..." she said, turning her still mostly naked body towards the scientist.

"Oh... Very well," he said in a put out tone, his smile ruining the effect. He reached up to trace his fingertips along the firm flesh of his lover, before grasping the ends of her bra and drawing them together in a slow, deliberate manner. He slid the straps of her bra up and traced his fingers down across her shoulders and around to caress her ample breasts through the frilly lace bra she now wore.

"Ooo, you would tease me like this!" she moaned, turning to plant a passionate kiss on his lips. After several long moments, she reached out and grabbed her panties, pulling back from the kiss she so desired to slide her feet into them.

"You know it, my beautiful Sheegsy," he whispered hotly, moving her fingers from the panties and turning her so he could slide them up her long, athletic legs. "So... When are you going to get the materiel I need from the space center?"

"Next week, at the latest," she choked out as his fingers caressed her through the material of her panties. "Probably on Friday, since that's the homecoming game and dance. That way, the security will lightest since so many personnel will go watch the game, and then go home and wait for their kids to get back home from the dance..." She shot a hand out to stop his fingers, her breathing heavy and quick, "Drew, baby, please..." she begged in a sultry whisper, "I'm going to have to change these if you keep that up!"

"Oh, really?" he asked as he raised the hand she wasn't holding to brush her cheek. "Oh, well... I guess this will give me time to do some work, yes?"

"Yes, Drewbie..." she smiled, "And when I get back, your plan will nearly be complete, right?"

"Yes... Just make sure that no one knows it's you, my dear..." he warned softly, drawing her in for a goodbye kiss.

"Don't worry," the mint-hued thief promised, "They'll have no idea what happened until the next day!" She slowly leaned into Drakken and caressed her lips with his, before standing slowly to complete dressing, giving the blue-skinned scientist a show he thoroughly enjoyed while she did so. "And after I get back... Before you get to busy with that device... But until then, I have to go and make sure I haven't compromised my cover..." She winked as she pulled on her top, her smile dazzling in the dim light of her bedroom.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Hmm... I think I've written enough so that no one wants to read any more Author's Notes. Besides, we're all looking forward to the Fannies right?


	5. Chapter 5

Shego idly gazed at the clock hanging above the door to her office. It was only three seventeen in the afternoon, and she glanced down at the annoying forms on her desk. She looked slowly abut the small ten by eight foot room, and sighed in irritation at the cramped _office_ which Mr. Barkin had kindly offered her. Snorting at her own thoughts, she turned back to staring her paperwork. 'Offered' would be quite a misnomer, after all. It would be more accurate to say 'persuaded'; utilizing the sort of persuasion that only a military man with a thick skull could understand.

It wasn't that she didn't like the other teachers, or she didn't like the staff lounge. It was just that she would like a little more space to organize her things, have meetings with some of the sports teams and easily store some of the less bulky PE equipment nearby. Only after much cajoling and well-hinted threats did she manage to get hold of the old storage room key and turned it into a semi-decent workplace.

Of course those were the official reasons she stated, she was a bit thankful to get a little space to call her own. As much as she liked Ron, and liked being around Ron, she found that she needed a little time and space to reorganize her thoughts without the 'Ron Factor' hovering around. Plus her new office also served as an anti-Barkin bunker. Despite her efforts, she was unable make it clear that she hadn't come back to work at Middleton High because of him. On top of that, maybe it was just her, but she didn't seem to quite mesh in well with some of the other teachers.

Oh, teachers are human too, or so Shego was rudely reminded when she was going to the teacher's lounge. A few of them, she wouldn't name names, were speculating on her whereabouts during her departure between her stint as Miss Go, the sweet goody-two-shoes math teacher, and Shego, the brusque and no-nonsense gym teacher. She was sort of glad to avoid those stares and hushed whispers, and she did enjoy a little peace and quiet of her own.

Not that her office was often peaceful or quiet. She found herself wryly smiling; that despite her efforts to ensure that she had a Shego-only zone, news of her own personal office was rife among the MHS grapevine. That and the fact that her office was simply a small storeroom snugly placed right in Hall B, where most of the students milled between the cafeteria and classes. It was a fact that made sure she found herself interrupted occasionally by a student looking to talk.

Ron had paid her more than his fair share of visits, and more often than not, it was to complain about the sad state of the lunch lady's mystery meat. This was quickly followed up with his speech that Shego, as a faculty member _and_ gym teacher, should do something about it for the sake of the students' health. He would usually drop by, ironically, with takeout from Bueno Nacho, which he'd share with her, and the two of them would talk. Mostly he would do the talking in between mouthfuls, and Shego found herself smiling as she watched her animated companion and his ever-present fabric challenged appendage, Rufus, who somehow managed to add something to the conversations. She realized that the often unmentioned fourth member of Team Possible was a lot more intelligent than she'd ever given him credit for.

However, Ron wasn't the only one who perused her open-door policy. Shego quickly found out through her personal fashion consultant and insider into the student body, Monique, that she ranked quite highly on the popularity roster, not just among the boys, but girls too. And often there were students shuffling in and out, usually to ask her inane questions which she strangely found herself putting up with. She could never see herself tolerating that sort of stupidity from Dr. Drakken, but these were just kids, kids who looked up to her. These were _her_ kids.

Sometimes she found herself listening to students pouring out their problems to her. Problems that she had once thought were unique only to herself. At first she thought that some of these stories were made up just to tease her, that maybe Kim or Ron had let slipped her past in some careless conversation, and she made a note in her planner to 'question' them about it. But then it became real, the stories were too alive, the pain was too raw and the innocent faces were too hurt; these kids sought to grasp those same elusive answers that she had once been looking for.

She wondered at how many girls thought they were not pretty enough; there were definitely more than she would have thought, and that she figured it was probably endemic. And a lot of them weren't fat or ugly girls, there were a whole plethora of them who'd cry their hearts out after being dumped by their boyfriend. They were girls whom Shego had remembered wishing she looked like: attractive, blonde, brunette, or brown haired, with normal looking skin, and athletic, lithe bodies.

To her even greater surprise, she realized that the problems went across the gender line. Boys, while less inclined to talk about their feelings, found themselves confessing to her that they tried, but somehow they weren't good enough for a girl they particularly cared for. And that was just the tip of the iceberg: not all problems were related to the opposite sex. There was the smorgasbord of family or school-related issues, which she still listened to and patiently smiled with a nod of her head. Sometimes all they needed was a kind word; sometimes it was just a little more. But these kids, _her_ kids, usually left her office a little happier, knowing that someone out there listened to their problems.

Shego mused at the irony that had come full circle. She now wished she had met someone like that when she was in high school. Ron Stoppable was about ten years too late, but still, she wouldn't trade him for anyone else in the world.

Again, Shego glanced up at the clock; her idle meandering thoughts had only pushed time forward by a measly six minutes. She lazily tapped her pencil on the table while waiting for one of her more important students to come in.

A gentle knock on the door heralded her arrival, as a meek voice called out from behind the door, "Hello? Shego?"

"Come in, Kim," Shego called out.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Kim asked nervously as she stepped into the office. She glanced around at some of the old tarnished trophies placed haphazardly in boxes near the doorway.

"I've been expecting you," Shego said seriously in a deep Godfather accent.

The red-head stared slack-jawed at the stern looking woman, before Shego broke out in a guffaw.

"I always wanted to say that," Shego smirked disarmingly.

Kim gave her a grin, and sat down in a chair opposite Shego. "The whole villain gig? Thought you'd have masterminded your own plan by now. You could be saying that line all the time, and I think I'd take Drakken more seriously if he didn't keep sounding so surprised every time I show up."

"Heh," Shego shrugged. "I do what I can with what I got. Besides you don't need to be the ruler of the world to make people cower in fear of you." With a toothy smirk, she leaned closer to Kim and with a hushed voice, "You should see what I can make these kids do during gym."

"I'm in your class, remember?" Kim let out with a little laugh, before quipping, "What do world conquerors and gym teachers have in common?"

"You got that right," Shego smiled in return, before her face turned serious. "You know, Kim, you don't have to act all nervous every time you come in here. Like I said, I'm willing to listen, if you're willing to talk. And this is the fourth time we've actually arranged such a session. So I was hoping you'd be more comfortable around me by now."

"Shego..." Kim's eyes furtively glanced around before settling on a Bueno Nacho wrapper sitting in a wastepaper basket. "Was Ron in here during lunch?"

"Uh huh," Shego nodded, while keeping a careful eye on the red-head.

Kim breathed in deeply and closed her eyes for a good ten seconds, before she slowly exhaled and opened her eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine..." she smiled at the older woman.

"That's an improvement," Shego remarked with a smile. "At least you didn't hit me with a barrage of questions or your fist."

Kim visibly winced at that remark, and she drooped her head slightly. In a soft whisper, she mumbled, "I'm really sorry about that."

Shego sighed, as she watched the red-head. "Kim, it's okay."

"I'm still sorry," Kim mumbled uncomfortably.

"Hey, as long as you promise not to do it again, I'm okay," Shego spoke in a serious tone. "There's no use tearing yourself up with guilt; I've already forgiven you, now all that's left is for you to forgive yourself."

Kim looked up at the green-hued woman for a moment before a small smile curled her lips, "Shego, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you need a head check with my mom. The old you would never talk to me like that."

"You know, we could always settle your issues the old-fashion way, with a good knockout brawl in the gym," Shego invited with a grin. "That way I can get a good workout and keep some of those students in line with a threatening display of flaming kung fu."

"Maybe," Kim replied uncertainly.

"Hmm..." Shego mused out loud, as she leaned back into her chair and twirled her pencil with both hands. "Something bothering you?"

"I... I..." Kim stammered. "I don't think... I can fight you anymore. Definitely not like before…"

Shego's jaw hung loosely in surprise. "Hang on a minute, you mean I just defeated the great Kim Possible? For good?"

Kim looked up meekly at Shego before shrugging, "I guess?"

Shego sat back and gazed at the red-head opposite her. "Are you sure you won't fight me again?"

"Uh huh," Kim nodded slowly.

"Care to explain why?" Shego raised an eyebrow.

"It's... That day... When I hit you, when you did nothing wrong..." Kim started slowly. "I'm just... Well... That's the first time I hit someone who... Who was innocent. For the first time, I was the aggressor... I-It feels like... It just feels like I've become the bad guy..."

"Kim, let's rewind for a moment, and talk about that day first, okay?" Shego interrupted the red-head. "Do you know what you fight for?"

"Fight for?" Kim cocked her head to the side as she thought about the question. "People in need, I guess."

"How are you helping these people by fighting for them?"

"I... Maybe there's someone else attacking them?" Kim replied.

"So you're fighting to protect these people, right?" Shego asked.

"I guess you could say that."

"What about a bad guy, or to use a school reference, a bully? What does a bully fight for?" Shego asked her.

"I don't know..." Kim shrugged. As Shego gave her a blank stare, Kim opened her lips to mumble her thoughts. "To take over some small part of their world? To make people fear and obey them? For money and power? I don't know..."

"Uh huh," Shego nodded. "So think back for a moment to the time you attacked me. There you were, vulnerable teenager who has self-esteem issues. You thought I was seducing your boyfriend, and turning him against you. You thought I'd beguiled your friends and conned your parents into thinking I was a good guy. You thought I was lying to you, betraying your trust and destroying you from the inside. Now, granted that's mostly not true, but at that point in time, without any further information, does it feel that you're losing everything you hold dear?"

"Uh huh..." Kim nodded weakly, trying to quell her unease.

"So were you fighting to hurt or destroy me? Or were you fighting to take back everything that's important to you?" Shego gazed at the red-head questioningly.

"It's a thin line..." Kim replied, sounding pained. "Sometimes it feels like the same thing."

"Is it really the same thing? Did it feel that you were fighting for the right reasons?" Shego asked.

"I don't know... I was wrong, wasn't I?" Kim replied in frustration. "I shouldn't have hit you!"

"Of course, and you shouldn't have done it," Shego remarked dryly. "But how come you never asked yourself that question when time we fought in Drakken's lair?"

"Because I was trying to stop one of his evil plans!" Kim shot back.

"Then when you fought me last week, outside the mall, weren't you also trying to stop one of _my_ 'evil' plans, at least from _your_ perspective?"

Kim looked mutely at the older woman in confusion.

With an inaudible sigh, Shego continued. "Look, for a moment, didn't you think I was out there seducing Ron, and purposely trying to screw with your life and your head?"

Numbly, the red-head nodded.

"Did it cross your mind that I was up to no good?"

"Yeah..." Kim replied unsurely.

"Then weren't you also trying to stop me?"

"Maybe?"

"Okay, I can settle for a maybe for now," Shego replied with a drawn out sigh. "Thing is, Kim, I want you to remember that you have always fought for the right reasons. You've never fought for selfish purposes or material gains. You may have felt confused, misled and betrayed the last few weeks, but your heart was still there, in the right place, fighting for what you believe is right." Shego paused and stared hard at the red-head. "And tomorrow, if I was out there trying to take over the world? I'd expect you to come out there and stop me."

Kim sat there with a troubled look on her face. "How do I know...""Kim, one thing at a time," Shego interrupted. "Just remember that although you were wrong about the situation, you were fighting for something very precious to you. And I don't blame you for that. You go out there feeling strongly about half the things you do, you're a very passionate person. Just... Just be sure of things next time, okay? Before you jump to conclusions."

Kim blushed sheepishly, before turning away. "Anyway, I'm still sorry."

"No big," Shego waved the red-head off with a smile. "So did you have any jealous moments today?"

"Just one," Kim replied with a tired smile. "I saw Tara talking to Ron, and he said something to her and they were laughing about it. I thought Tara was laying it on pretty thickly, the way she'd laugh at every silly little thing, and the way she smiles like she is completely mesmerized when he talks."

"I could say the same about this other red-headed cheerleader I know," Shego replied with a smile. "So what did you do about it?"

"This time, at least I didn't make a fool of myself by glomping him in front of her and kissing him," Kim replied with a forced laugh. "Mr. Barkin was just around the corner and he'd have definitely saw that."

"You do realize how deeply committed Ron is to you, right?" Shego asked.

"Yeah, I do..." Kim shut her eyes for a moment, trying to clear her head. "I'm working on it."

"You didn't mention that little jealous moment in here, when you saw Ron's Bueno Nacho wrapper in my bin," Shego stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, that." Kim gave the older woman a weak smile.

"Does it still bother you that we're friends?" Shego asked cautiously.

"A bit," Kim replied nervously. "I guess... I don't want to spoil your friendship... If that's all there is to it."

"Afraid we might be in here for a mid-lunch make-out fest while you're busy with one of your numerous clubs?" Shego asked with a smirk.

"I guess," Kim nodded slowly. "I know you both are just friends... But Ron and I started out that way too..."

"Ron and I don't have the same thing the two of you have," Shego replied crossly. "Years and years of trust and friendship, built upon rock solid foundation and tempered in the furnaces of every imaginable challenge that you two faced while saving the world." Shego laughed gently, "Overly poetic, maybe, but it's true. I think that you might be missing the picture here, Kim: you shouldn't be jealous of me. I should be jealous of you."

"Are you?" Kim asked curiously.

"At times," Shego replied, sounding exhausted. "But it doesn't matter does it?"

"Shego?" Kim looked at the older woman expectantly. "How much do you love Ron?"

"What kind of question is that?" Shego snapped at the red-head irritably. "That's not important at all... I should be the one asking you the questions."

"Like I said, I think I'm getting better," Kim ventured.

"Yeah, right," Shego snorted in response. "Don't you think I should be the one to say that? But since you seem okay enough to ask these nosy questions without snapping my head off, I'd say that's a major improvement."

Kim smiled broadly at the off-handed compliment. "Shego, do you think we can take a break this time and talk about something else?"

Looking the red-head straight in the eyes, she grudgingly replied, "What else would you like to talk about?"

"For one, why'd you become a villain?" Kim ventured as she gazed uncertainly at the older woman. "I mean, we know you used to work for Global Justice. Then what happened?"

"Can we not talk about that?" Shego said tiredly.

"Why not?" Kim asked. "You already know so much about me, and I'd just like to know more about you."

"Hey, this isn't some quid pro quo thing, okay?" Shego replied grimly. "I just don't want to talk about."

"Oh," Kim said forlornly. "I'm sorry, I just thought I'd ask."

"It's okay," Shego waved her off. "It was a screwed up time in my life."

"Maybe you'll tell me about it someday?"

Shego raised a tentative eyebrow.

"I don't… I don't want to seem like I'm prying," Kim gave her a reassuring smile. "I just… You know, I was just thinking how little I know about you. I know I'm just a student to you, and I shouldn't be asking about stuff like this, but… Maybe you'd like to talk about it someday? When we're friends?"

"When we're friends," Shego nodded with a slight smile. "So anything else you'd like to talk about, Kim?"

"You know, Shego," Kim tilted her head as she looked at Shego. "I've been wondering, why do you call me Kim? What happened to all those pet names like Pumpkin and Princess?"

Shego smiled as she relaxed back into her chair. She studied Kim's anxious face before she teased, "What, you miss those pet names already?" She grinned toothily before letting out a chuckle. "It's simple, really. You're Kim within these walls and corridors because I can't use those pet names. Got to be fair to all those other students, right? Can't show favoritism to you, just by giving you a special nickname, right?"

"Doesn't sound too special to me," Kim muttered. "It sounded more like an insult to me."

"Hey, that's how it started, but you grew on me," Shego remarked with a laugh. "Now I can't really think of you as anything else other than Princess!"

"Why Princess?" Kim squawked embarrassedly.

"Thought we already had this conversation?" Shego asked with a raised eyebrow, as Kim shook her head. "Well... It's because you're the princess, and I'm basically the evil dragon..."

"Dragon?"

"Flaming fists... You sort of get the picture," Shego twirled a glowing finger lazily in the air as she droned on as if reciting the school rules for the hundredth time. "I mean, that's who you are compared to me, right? You are beautiful, smart, accomplished and well-loved by everyone around you... While everyone hates the evil, vile Shego who..."

"Stop... Stop it..." Kim raised her voice in protest, as she straightened in her seat and looked straight into Shego's eyes. "No, Shego, you're not... You're wrong... You're not evil..."

"Evil?" Shego laughed hollowly. "I've done my fair share of evil deeds, and maybe a bit more... Broken more than a few limbs and faces, sometimes just because I'm doing my job, and other times just because I felt like it... When you ask some of those families whether I'm evil... I'm evil with the capital D."

"But... But..." Kim started. "You're not anymore..."

"It's who I used to be," Shego shrugged nonchalantly. "And I can't escape that..."

"But life just dealt you a bad hand, right? If I were in your position..." Kim started, before she was stopped by a sharp look from Shego.

"You know what, Kim?" Shego replied wearily, as she glanced at the clock above the door. "It's easy to say something like that, that I just had bad parentsor a bad break and that my evil ways were a product of my upbringing... But I'd rather not. I'd honestly rather be reminded that these are the choices I made in life, and it costs me..."

"Why?" Kim asked.

"'Cause... The next time I'm inclined to rob a bank and steal something," Shego started softly. "I'd just look at Ron, and ask myself, do I want to lose his trust? Sometimes it's weird... But I come home and play with Hana, and she makes me smile like nothing else mattered. Or when Jean asks me what I'd like for dinner... Maybe it's those little sort of things, things that let me know I sort of matter. I realized that when Drakken didn't come back for me, he probably put up some ad in the papers for a new sidekick, and... And I just wished that someone would look for me like you looked for Ron in that cave-in."

"Haven't you had anyone like that in the past, Shego?" Kim asked softly, her face scrunched up in concern.

"No," Shego replied automatically, before sighing slightly and continuing in a bitter voice, "Well, once, but..." She shrugged and glanced away from Kim to check the clock.

"Once?" Kim cautiously ventured.

"Kim," Shego started, narrowing her eyes slightly before closing them and pinching the bridge of her nose, "That's something else I don't want to talk about."

"Um, okay." Kim said in that same soft voice, "I'm sorry, Shego. I didn't mean to bring any bad memories up."

"Yes you did," Shego muttered bitterly, then took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, "But thanks for dropping it."

"No big," Kim replied, then took a deep breath herself, "You know something... They really care for you..." Shego glanced at Kim as she said that, "I mean, Ron and his family… He does worry about you and on top of that he did help you quite a bit since you moved into his house..."

"My," Shego looked over at Kim with wide-eyed surprise. "Wow... Here I was worried that you were just trying to do the 'Anything's possible for a Possible'. Which, I might add, would be for the worse... So I guess you must _really_ be a lot better to say that. You really don't mind Ron showing concern for me?"

"I guess," Kim replied sheepishly. "I'm trying to remember something you said, that Ron is a very caring person and it would be selfish if I kept him all to myself. Besides, I think it's okay... I'd be worried too if anything happened to you, too..."

Shego stared at Kim for a moment. She sat silently in deep thought, before startling Kim by standing up suddenly. She grabbed her keys off the top of her desk and in a brisk tone, called to the red-head, "C'mon Kim... Grab your bag, we're going somewhere."

"What? Where?" Kim asked, flustered.

"Just something I want to show you," Shego stood at the doorway. "C'mon, out of my office now..."

"But..." Kim stammered, as she picked up her bag lying at the foot of the table. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Shego replied curtly, as she impatiently pulled Kim out of her office, turned off the lights, and shut the door before locking it behind her. "My car, I'm driving."

Kim nodded as she tried to match Shego's purposeful stride. Walking alongside her, Kim glanced up at the face of the older woman. The older woman's face was stern and serious; she kept her eyes focused on the end of the corridor as she walked, almost as if angry. "So Shego..."

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell us where are we going?" Kim asked hesitantly. "I'm not used to being kept in the dark."

"I can tell," Shego smirked like her old self. "Ron says it's really hard to surprise you. But I'd like to try."

* * *

"What is this place?" Kim asked as she stepped out of the front passenger seat of Shego's silver Mazda.

"It's..." Shego stopped for a moment to behold the white picket fence and the light blue painted house. She took a deep breath as she took it all in, the well-manicured lawn, the clean porch, and the wooden blinds that adorned its windows. "You wanted to know about my past, and asked about what's basically the darkest part of it... Well, I figured I'd start at the beginning."

"'The beginning'?" Kim echoed uncomprehendingly.

"Yeah," Shego confirmed tensely, "You remember earlier when I said I had someone once?" Kim nodded when Shego glanced at her, "Well... This is... It's Sam's dad's place."

"Sam? Who is he?" Kim asked.

"First of all, _he_ is actually a _she._ And second, _she_ was my… girlfriend." Shego spoke evenly.

"She?" Kim shook her head in disbelief. "Is she anything like Alex?"

"No, nothing of that sort," Shego smiled. "I guess girlfriend would be understating things... She meant to me what Ron means to you. We didn't live together yet, but..." Shego shook her head slightly, letting her smile drop to a more neutral expression. "She was a pretty decent girl, good student, a bit rough around the edges even if she was one of the more popular kids at the university... Unless you knew her, though, she actually kept to herself quite a bit."

"Was?" Kim started.

"Yeah, was…" Shego shrugged. "She died a few years back."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kim offered her condolences. "Look, Shego, if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay. I understand."

"Hey, since we're here already, we might as well go in, right?" Shego suggested, as she rested her hand on the waist-high gate, and swung it lazily inwards.

"What?" Kim echoed in disbelief, as she watched Shego stride purposefully up the pathway. "Why are we bothering her dad then?"

"Like I said, just showing you something," Shego replied distantly, as she walked up to the front door, not waiting for Kim to follow her.

"Are you breaking in?" Kim asked in horror as she watched Shego fumble around her pockets.

"What about it?" Shego turned to the red-head with a leer. "Wouldn't you like to commit a little larceny with me? After all, we're friends, right?"

"No!" Kim recoiled in shock. "C'mon, Shego! Enough with the jokes, especially jokes like that! We could ring the doorbell and ask them if they're in."

Shego shook her head with a sad smile on her face and replied, "It's cool, I got a key."

"A key?" Kim looked at the older woman dumbstruck. "Why do you have a key?"

"It's just... It's one of those things Sam's dad gave to me after she... Yeah..." Shego let the rest of her words die off. "They, Sam's dad and big brother, I mean... Said I'd always be part of the family, no matter what, so... When I need to remember, I just come here. Charlie, Sam's dad, gave me this key, and said I could come anytime and just let myself in..."

"Are they in..."

"Charlie's probably at someone's home taking measurements for a custom bed or counter, and Weber'd leave his car out front if he was here, so I doubt anyone's home at the moment," Shego replied as she fished a key from her pockets.

"Are you sure it's alright?" Kim asked unsurely as she watched the older woman unlock the front door. She silently heaved a sigh of relief as she realized that at least Shego wasn't forcing entry.

"It's okay, they know I come by when they're not around… I don't really like to see them... I mean, it's not because they hated me or anything... I guess I... It's me, and how much it hurts being here... It's like I'm a reminder of Sam and who she was..." She sighed heavily as she twisted the doorknob.

Together they both stepped into the home. Kim's discerning eye could easily spot the beautiful wooden, hand crafted furniture in the living room, as well as the impressive home theatre set, which she realized would have cost her parents a decent portion of their annual salary. As Kim stood around admiring the home décor, Shego wordlessly walked up the stairs in front of them.

"Why would they?" Kim hesitantly asked as she followed Shego, shutting the door behind her. Shego glanced back with a raised eyebrow, and Kim expanded her statement, "Hate you, I mean?"

Shego pursed her lips, the internal debate she was having playing across her eyes. Finally she opened her mouth with a wry twist of her lips, the expression more of a grimace than a smile, "They don't… But they could have. Let's just get upstairs first, okay?"

Kim nodded wordlessly as she walked up stairs. She couldn't help but notice the multitude of framed pictures that adorned the wall. In most pictures, there was a happy family of four: two parents, and a girl and a slightly older boy. The pictures were almost a chronology of the moments of their lives.

There was one when the girl, around age two, was sitting in her brother's lap. Her brother, in turn, was on a set of chairs in a rather business like office. Kim clearly saw emblems and markings that indicated it was at a military base. Another one where a little girl was playing in a sand pit, looking adorably up at the camera when she was about six, while her brother prepared to dump a bucket of water on her.

There was another picture of when she was celebrating her tenth birthday with her family. The woman that was obviously her mother wore a sad look, and though looking to be younger than forty, she wore a breathing tube in her nose. Kim stared at that picture for several long seconds before a soft voice right behind her made her start slightly. "That was Sam's mom... She got lung cancer at thirty-eight and died not too long after this picture was taken, from what Sam told me..."

Kim glanced at Shego, a questioning look in her eyes, but she let it slide at a slight shake of Shego's head. Slowly, she turned her attention back to the pictures. The next was at a water park, and had both the girl's older brother and father in the picture. They looked to be a year, or possibly two older. Although they seemed to be smiling happily, without a care in the world, there was a void easily visible in the pictures. Despite that, they did seem to be having fun, and it drew a slightly sad smile from Kim.

There were several more pictures leading to the top of the stairs, but the standout images were when the girl was about sixteen. In the first one she was holding what could only be a driver's license up while she stood in front of an old Pontiac Grand Am. Then there was a picture that was part of a plaque proclaiming 'Samantha Sites, Missouri state Speech and Debate Champion, 1997'. Directly above that was a small glass-fronted case that held a plaque similar to the one for speech and debate, but a trophy as well.

"Gymnastics, huh?" Kim said with a smile, earning a snort from the top of the stairwell. She glanced at Shego and noticed the older woman was blushing, and her smile widened slightly, but she left the obvious opening alone, instead looking at the last few pictures hung in the stairwell. A picture of Samantha's first prom was next, followed finally by the young woman graduating from high school, pumping her fist in the air proudly. It was a collage of her life, out on display for the whole world to see. Then she arrived at the last picture in the series.

Kim took a moment to just stare at the picture. The woman, who she recognized now as Shego's Sam, was in a word, beautiful. The woman had big, expressive brown eyes that were open and happy. Her nose was smallish, but fit with her face very well. She had wide, pouty lips, and a softly angular jaw. She was also fairly athletic, if the toned arms and shoulders visible through her tank top were any indication. She had a smallish, well shaped bosom and a slim waist.

Peering closer, Kim noted that the woman's fiery red hair was shorter than in the other pictures, almost boyishly short. She was laughing, almost as if teasing the woman next to her as she pointed at the chocolate chip cupcake that bore number shaped candles declaring '21', smoke rising lazily from the blackened wicks. A younger Shego looked adoringly at the other woman, with a bemused, but happy look on her face.

"She kinda... Looks like me," Kim announced softly.

"Really? I never noticed," Shego shrugged nonchalantly, without looking at the picture. Instead she leaned against the wall on top of the stairs, eyes closed as though in deep thought. Without waiting for the red-head to say anything further, she walked off into the bedroom just at the top of the stairs.

After staring at the last image for a few long minutes, Kim stepped upstairs before following Shego into the bedroom the older woman had entered. The first thing she noticed was a huge armoire, which seemed to dominate its corner of the bedroom. It was stained a deep umber, and the doors were opened, revealing an ornately framed mirror. There were pictures tacked lazily around the edges, which made Kim feel more than a little guilty in intruding.

As she stepped around the armoire and into the room proper, she felt a powerful sense of familiarity wash over her. The room was distinctly feminine, with a bed and rows of plush toys lined up against the headboard. The bed was covered by a rose-colored duvet that looked untouched, and brand new. On the walls were some old posters, featuring some hottie singers back in the 90's. What drew her attention most was a huge poster on the wall behind the bed, the words, "A woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle!" printed across it in bold, block type print.

Kim found herself gawking at the poster, knowing the significance of the words but struggling to rationalize something so forward with the femininity of the room. Her thoughts were interrupted by the older woman, who had sat down on the bed and looked around the room.

"You know, that was her way of telling her dad and brother that she was gay," Shego replied with a snicker. "I was her first woman, and she didn't really know how to break it to her family... So I suggested getting a really huge poster and sticking it right where they could see it."

Kim rolled her eyes, "That's so you..."

With a soft chuckle, Shego replied wistfully, "Yup, I definitely was a bad influence on her..."

Kim walked over to the armoire, gazing at the mirror. There were pictures taped all around the edges, pictures of Sam and Shego, pictures of Sam among a faceless group of people at a barbecue, singing, a dress rehearsal and a few more other precious moments. As she stared, Kim found herself drawn to the mirror, noticing that someone had scrawled something over it in black lipstick. The large, elegant cursive lettering spread itself over most of the mirror, and she slowly read what was there, feeling almost like an intruder as she did so.

_Samantha Sites, I will always love you. __Shego, 2002._

Kim found her finger tracing over the simple words. "So... What happened?"

"It-... It's a long story," Shego replied sadly as she lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Kim walked over to her, and sat next to the older woman, her hand unconsciously reaching out to clasp Shego's. "You can tell me. It's obvious that she is... Was... Very important to you."

"Yeah, but I guess not fucking _important_ enough for me to save her life!" Shego replied bitterly, as she turned her face away from Kim and snatching her hand out of Kim's.

"No, it's not your fault. You didn't want this to happen…" Kim responded in a low voice.

"You know how you always wonder one day..." Shego continued slowly, ignoring her words, "What if you've failed? Your hero-saving days? Saving the world and all that? But what if one day, you failed? And you didn't just fail the world… But you failed the one thing more important to you than the whole wild world?" Shego turned to look at the red-head with glassy eyes. "I failed her…"

"It's not your fault, Shego," Kim replied slowly. "You didn't cause her death."

"Might as well have," Shego spat out nastily. "I couldn't save her... I just couldn't save her..."

"C'mon, Shego, tell me what happened..." Kim spoke softly to the older woman. "Help me understand... From the start."

Shego began with a sigh. "We met through work, or rather, through her brother. Weber was a freshie at GJ with me, though I technically outranked him because of my 'crime fighting' experience. So we were pretty tight, and one day he just invited me over to chill with his family, and that's when I met Sam."

"Was he interested in you?" Kim asked curiously, trying to lighten to mood.

Shego allowed a shadow of a smile to appear on her lips. "Nah, we were just friends. He had a girlfriend and I got this dyke-reputation around GJ agents, so no sexual tension there. Somehow that must have slipped his mind when he introduced me to his innocent, little sister. Probably the biggest mistake of his life."

Kim joined Shego in a little snicker before adding, "Should I keep you away from Joss?"

"Hey, for your information, she came on to me first, okay?" Shego protested with a laugh.

"No way!"

"I swear! She asked me out one day, completely out of the blue!" Shego insisted with a widening grin at the memory. "She wanted to ask me about my lifestyle in private, away from the prying eyes and ears of her overprotective father and brother."

"Uh huh," Kim drawled with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey, if you're gonna act like that, I'm not continuing," Shego growled.

"Okay, okay!" Kim laughed. "It's your story."

"Right, my story," Shego repeated smugly. "I tell it like I want to. Where was I? Oh, she asked me out. Turns out that she was more than a little curious, and Weber has been telling some pretty wild stories about me back home. She confessed that she thought that lesbians were women who dressed like men, and never expected me to flaunt my body so sexily."

"Uh huh, ego much?" Kim teased.

"These curves, you could dream of having," Shego retorted.

"Yeah, with implants!" Kim shot back, with an evil grin.

"Hey, 100 real!" Shego snapped back, as she poked the red-head. "Much like your itty, bitty…"

"Hey!" Kim covered her chest with her arms jokingly. "You're molesting me!"

"We're both women here," Shego pointed out smugly.

"But you're a lesbian!"

"Bi," Shego corrected her. "And I don't touch underage girls who have the chest of a ten-year old."

"You just had to get the last shot in, didn't you?" Kim groaned. "So back to the story?"

"Yeah, story… Well, long story short, we hooked up, she was cute and charming, and I was sexy and mysterious," Shego fell silent at the sight of Kim rolling her eyes. "What?"

"Nothing," Kim replied innocently. "So what did her brother say when he found out?"

"He almost had a heart attack," Shego grinned mischievously. "But he took it as well as anyone could have taken it. Was just happy for me and her, and gave me the proverbial big brother dress down."

"Proverbial big brother dress down?"

"The 'If you hurt her, I'd hunt you down and flay you alive, and give you a fifty caliber enema' speech," Shego replied with a smirk. "But that was much better than how her dad took it."

"The poster?"

"Yup, the poster," Shego nodded with a grin. "He had a temper, and yelled at Weber for bringing someone like me into this house. Luckily Weber was on our side and talked him down... From what he told me, Sam was almost hysterical when he forbade her from seeing me ever again and planned to send her to military school. Gee, put her in a camp full of dykes, that'll do wonders for her…"

"Aren't you generalizing?" Kim raised an eyebrow.

Shego snorted derisively, "No, not really... Anyway, he finally calmed down and accepted it grudgingly with the condition that we kept such behavior to a minimum when he was around. So I'd drop by for dinner and we'd head out together after that, and I'd have Sam back by eleven. It was all good, home-cooked meals and someone to share it with."

"Sounds like a good life," Kim commented.

"Yeah, you know what that means, right?" Shego lowered her voice.

Kim just shook her head.

"Whenever something good happens to me, it gets taken away from me," Shego replied evenly. "I remember that mission, every minute of it. There was a hostage situation where this military guy went rogue. And it was… It was bad, Kim. He snapped, and winded up taking a novelty confectionary store hostage. Since he was part of some experimental soldier outfit, the police left it to the experts: Global Justice."

"Was she one of the hostages?" Kim asked softly.

Shego nodded numbly, staring at the picture frame in her hands. "No one knew, no one knew she was one of the hostages. I did my job, got into a sniper position on top of the building across the street and got ready to take him out. Then as I looked through the scope, I realized my girl was down there, next to the entrance of the kitchen." She paused for a moment. "And it was like, she's there, terrified and alone, and I could see every bit of fear on her face, and I wanted nothing more than to fly down the building and hold her in my arms."

"Shego? You okay?" Kim let go of Shego's hand and placed an arm around Shego's shoulders.

"I could see her," Shego continued shakily, ignoring Kim's words. "And she couldn't see me. God, I could only imagine how she felt. I called up Weber, and he _freake__d_... Word got to Betty pretty goddamn quick that one of our own was in there. She was in charge of field operations, and ordered the negotiator in. First priority was to get everyone out. Or at least whoever they could. So she got our best in there. Simon McNally, my squad leader... And he wasn't just a kick ass and take names guy; he was a fully trained and certified hostage negotiator."

"Then what happened?"

"Military stepped in," Shego replied bluntly. "Negotiations were going too slow, and… And the hostage taker's behavior was becoming erratic. He knew the military would come for him, and he started ranting and raving. Our man was on the verge of convincing him to let some people go as a sign of good faith, when he was ordered back. Simon didn't listen, and he said this guy had some... Interesting things to tell us all about... He also tried to claim GJ jurisdiction, and the Army was actually starting to pull back, or at least we thought they were..."

Shego pursed her lips, her expression darkening hatefully. "Then someone came up on my position, set up above me on the roof access, setting up a sniping position. She… She… You've met her before."

"Oh god, who?" Kim gasped at Shego in surprise.

"Your kidnapper," Shego said flatly. "That tall platinum blonde bitch."

"What?" Kim turned pale at the mention of her.

"She used to be with the military," Shego replied bitterly. "And based on how she fought me and Ron... I'd say she was stronger and faster than the average soldier... Almost too strong and too fast… That's how I recognized her; I'll never forget her voice. I don't know how she was on our comm lines, though... So she showed up, and reported in that she has a clear shot, then before I could stop her, she fired."

"No…"

"She was supposed to hit him here," Shego tapped the back of her neck between the second and third vertebrae. "Or here," she tapped her ear, "Or even here," she tapped her chest slightly to the left, over the heart. "Bam. Instant kill. But she got his chest, just above his right pectoral muscle, maybe punctured a lung. He was a tough mother fucker… Definitely extra-normal, as GJ calls anyone like me or my brothers, or super-soldiers, I guess..."

Shego shook her head as she recalled the scene. "He had the strength to turn around and glare at us, just this hateful, murderous stare... Simon, tried to get to him, and almost did... Fourteen years in the green berets, then five in GJ as one of our best field agents and our best negotiator... And he almost got him, but... He moved so fast, Kimmie, I could barely keep up with his movements... And he grabbed Simon by the throat, all six foot four and three hundred and twenty pounds of muscle... And broke his neck with one hand. Then the asshole thumbed the detonator." Shego mimed the action as she whispered softly, "Boom."

Kim patted the woman's shoulder silently, as she held on to the silent woman.

"I should have stopped her," Shego whispered into the still room, "Should've stopped her from taking the shot…" a strangled sound came from her throat, somewhere between a whimper and a sob, and Kim tightened her arm around the older woman's shoulders. "I... There were three survivors from the blast... Two hiding behind the cash registers... Sam wasn't one of them…"

Shego sighed, shaking her head, "I lost it. I grabbed her, couldn't see her face, she was wearing some suit, I think an old M-12 FuBOC suit, the second generation army optical camo full body armor. So I couldn't see her face, just heard her voice... And she put me down, Kim... Slapped me across the roof like a rag doll. Then she snarled, 'If you think you could have done better, you should have shot first.'"

"No!" Kim whispered in horror.

"Yes," Shego replied dryly, sighing, "My backup managed to restrain me from doing anything too crazy... But it didn't matter, Sam was dead." Shego looked up, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Shego," Kim felt that she had to say something. "It's just not fair."

"Yeah, that's the thing, Princess," Shego bit back harder than she intended. "It's just not fair! My life is just not fair! She was the best thing that ever happened to me. Ever…"

"I'm sorry, Shego…" Kim repeated helplessly.

"Heh, don't you ever get tired of apologizing?" Shego snorted, as she blinked hard twice and rubbed her eyes. "Anyway, Kimmie? Since I'm telling you all of this? You know about that fight we have over Ron? For a moment there, I thought you were going to take him away from me. You were going to come and take away my only friend, perhaps the first person to actually care about me, since…"

"Oh, Shego…" Kim felt despair surging as she hastily added. "I didn't know… I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"There you go again," Shego remarked through a strained smile.

"I promise, I'll never get in the way of your friendship with Ron again," Kim looked sincerely at her. "And Ron's not your only friend now. There's me and Monique too."

"Yeah, thanks, Kim," Shego tried to smile as she patted Kim's hand. "It's just painful remembering all of this."

"Shego, I'm really sorry that I brought this up," Kim replied, as she reached out a hand to grasp Shego's. "I'm sorry..."

"Kim..." Shego glanced over. "It's okay... I guess I needed this... I've never really talked about it; I guess you were the first to ask me to talk about it... Do you mind waiting downstairs? I sort of need a moment here."

"You sure, Shego?" Kim asked, her voice filled with concern. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Shego replied tiredly. "Just wait for me downstairs okay?"

"If you say so..." Kim replied hesitantly as she got up from the bed. She cast one last, long look at Shego over her shoulder, before proceeding downstairs to give Shego a little more space.

Shego glanced around the room, before finally getting up and walking to the armoire. She stared closely at the pictures that decorated its edges, and found a soft smile spreading across her lips. Her fingers gently traced a picture of Sam and her together, before drawing back. She gingerly wiped away a tear, and spoke softly to the picture.

"Look, Sam..." She cleared her throat. "I guess I haven't dropped by in a while. Things have happened, but I haven't forgotten about you one bit."

She steadied herself on the edge of the armoire, as she felt an overwhelming desire to cry. Blinking back the tears, she spoke again in a quavering voice. "I guess I'm okay... Had a couple more scraps since I saw you last. Kinda fucked up my life a little, but... Things are kinda back on track. Anyway, I... I met someone..."

Shego smiled again despite herself, laughing a little, the sound fragile as it filtered lazily across the room. "I know what you're probably thinking, and no, it's not her... He's a nice guy... You'd like him... In fact... I think you two would have hit it off..." She sighed and glanced down where her hands grasped the edge of the armoire, watching as her vision blurred before looking up and blinking away more tears. "The thing is, that girl I just came in with? That's his girlfriend... Quite a firebrand... Like me... Like... You..." Shego laughed hollowly again, before it dissolved into a strangled sob, "Heh, it's just like me, isn't it? To hit on someone who's already taken..."

Shego wiped away another tear, smiling sadly at the picture. "Anyway, you were right... When you said that if something happened to you, that I'd find someone else... Maybe not this guy, though... I hope it's him... God, I know that's stupid, but I do... But, _maybe_ I can start to believe I'll find some other guy... Or girl... But I'll never forget you." Shego found herself smiling. "I love you."

Shego took one more look at the picture before returning it to its place on the armoire. She turned and walked towards the door, giving the room a once over as she turned off the lights, making sure nothing was out of place. As she slipped the door closed, she let one last whisper leave her lips.

"Good bye, Pumpkin..."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Okay, with _severe_ restraint, this is one chapter that did not go over 10k words. I'm sorry if my previous chapters did; it was no intention of mine or kgs' to make people sit through long chapters. Yes, the Internet has diminished my attention span, but instead gave me superhuman powers of multitasking. These days, I can write, watch video, surf the Net and chat on MSN all at the same time.

This is basically a filler chapter to me, providing some necessary mediocre things happening in the universe. I mean, well, I could, for example, say at the beginning of the chapter, "Shego gave Kim lots of therapy." And that would basically sum up the first half of the chapter. But I hope the read was more interesting than the summary, and that it develops both Kim and Shego's as characters. I think most interesting part about this would be the fine line that Kim seems to walk on the side of good and evil. Somehow the argument feels weak, but then again, maybe Shego and Kim aren't that different after all.

Sam is a question that I've sort of felt… Well… Okay, Sam was sort of meant as some sort of revelation a lot sooner, but in the due course of things, well… Things happen. Anyway, this is meant to explain a few things about Sam, and what happened to Shego next, as well as a little about Miss ANThropy, though no one seems to have mentioned her name. But I think the way Shego regards herself is a little sad, she seems to see herself as unlucky in life. Whenever something good happens to her, it'll be taken away none too soon. But yeah, damn, feels clichéd and tragic. Okay, I'm rambling, I should stop here.


	6. Chapter 6

A young Global Justice agent meekly waited for the shouting to die down before she gulped and steeled her nerves. She knocked twice on the door with her knuckles; she didn't know which was worse, interrupting the heated argument or having to wait until the yelling stopped again.

"Come in!" A gruff voice commanded from inside.

"Agent Foint here," she introduced herself in a quavering voice, as she stepped into the office. She glanced nervously at the two sole occupants of the room. One was a defiant Agent Du who stood with arms crossed and eyes narrowed, who did not bother to acknowledge her interruption. She gulped as she swiveled her head to address the other. "Dr. Director? We have a prisoner requesting to see you."

Dr. Director eyed the junior agent carefully, before grating coarsely, "Do I look like the prison warden? Don't bother me with these trivial things!"

"But…" the junior agent interrupted meekly as she squeaked in a tiny voice. "But… You might want to hear him out…"

"I'm in the middle of discussing a very important matter here…" Dr. Director snapped out irritably.

"As far as I'm concerned, this matter is beyond discussion," Agent Du remarked blithely as Agent Foint backed out of the room. "Maybe you_should_ listen to another criminal plead their case about not being guilty." He shook his head condescendingly as he added "They're all the same anyway."

"Do I have to remind you who's the commander and who's the subordinate?" Dr. Director gritted her teeth as she glowered at her number one agent.

"It is my prerogative to achieve the aims of this organization, which I believe you have lost sight of," Agent Du replied coldly. "The evidence is unquestionable! The camera footage gives us more than enough grounds to enact an arrest, a court warrant and a conviction! Dr. Director, we have proceeded to detain suspects on far weaker evidence!"

They met glares for a moment, before Dr. Director sighed deeply and calmly announced. "Fine, give this matter a rest first and see what our prisoner has to say."

Silently, Agent Du nodded his assent as he leaned back against the wall.

"Right… Right… He's coming up, Dr. Director" Agent Foint replied nervously which gave Dr. Director the distinct impression the young woman was saluting air. After radioing in her instructions, Agent Foint looked up to see two pairs of eyes focusing intently on her. She gulped nervously as she wondered why no one was saying a word. She tried to avoid glancing at her watch, wishing she could fade into the background as part of the office furniture. After an agonizing ten minutes, she felt liberated by a sharp knock on the door. The junior agent hastily reached for the door knob and swung it open.

"See? That's what I mean by service around here, seriously," the huge man with a blonde mullet brushed his hair back with cuffed hands, strutting through the doorway, a wide grin evident on his face. "So, babe," he flashed a grin at Dr. Director. "This is where you work?"

"What?" Dr. Director commanded frostily, as she eyed the car nut.

"Woah, ba…" Motor Ed was cut short by the clearly audible thunk of a service pistol being slammed forcefully on the desk in front of him.

"Not. Another. Word." She menaced through gritted teeth. "You're here on my time, so cut to the chase, Dr. Lipsky."

"Right…" Motor Ed sported a wry grin, before his face turned serious. "Anyway, you got to help me. My cell mate, Francis Lucre been seriously harshing my prison mellow, if you catch my drift. It's like I keep tuning him out, but he keeps on tuning himself back in! Like a tailgater you just can't shake! He's like a master in talking, seriously! He blabbers on and on how he could take over the world with _coupons_!" He shook his head in desperation. "Seriously, his talking and talking's been giving me the split ends, and let me tell you, babe, hair this fine and split ends mix like engine oil and rain. And I don't even get my favorite conditioner in here! This prison stay sucks, and you have got to cut me some slack, I'm seriously talking about cruel and unusual punishment! You might as well…"

"Shut up," Dr. Director growled, slipping her fingers around the grip of her sidearm. "You're not getting out of jail, and that's final."

"No… No way, don't get your panties all twisted in a bunch…" Motor Ed hastily gulped as Dr. Director's trigger finger flexed lazily. "I was just thinking, seriously thinking... I'd do anything for you to get me out of that cell…"

With a defeated sigh, Dr. Director leaned back in her chair and propped her head up by her hand. "Throw him back in prison with Lucre," she waved her hands at the guards and Agent Foint.

"Wait… Wait… Babe!" Motor Ed protested loudly. "You haven't heard me out yet… I was seriously thinking… You know how I am with vehicles! How the beautiful music of a purring engine reaches my ears? How a mechanical work of art can handle the road like a lover to his woman's curves? That kinda thing builds up in my heart and soul, seriously!"

Everyone in the room stared blankly at the blond car nut. Dr. Director broke the silence by looking at Agent Foint and the guards with her and gestured to them again. "I'm listening..." she muttered to the muscle-head in front of her desk.

"Okay, seriously, it goes like this… Lucre's been harshing my mellow, like I said… He's like a 'neene neene neee'," Motor Ed waggled his fingers as illustration. "I'm talking about…" He mimicked a high pitched guitar riff, as he threw his head back, and struck an air guitar pose. "Get it, babe?"

"So... You want to get out of your cell, in exchange you are offering to upgrade some of Global Justice's obsolete equipment," Dr. Director spoke flatly.

"Uh huh, exact-ta-mundo my one fine babe!" Motor Ed cocked his head towards Dr. Director. "Now as I was saying… If it has an engine, I can trick it out and soup it up… I mean… It'll be…" He struck another air guitar pose and shook his head wildly. "Awesome! Seriously!" He screamed in a high pitched voice.

His air guitar pose brought a wry grin to Dr. Director's face, and she pondered for a moment with a bemused look on her face. "Fine, you have a deal. You get four hours a day under constant surveillance.

You can spend that time how you like it, with two of Global Justice first generation ground vehicles that are giving our maintenance crews trouble. No weapons systems or live ammunition. Let me see what you can do before I decide whether you can work on the 'fun' stuff." There was an evident twinkle in her eye as she voiced her proposal.

"Oh yeah! Babe!" Motor Ed whooped for joy. "You are not going to regret this, I'm gonna make it so awesome!" He accentuated the last word in a high pitch. "You are truly an awesome goddess," Motor Ed intoned with wide eyes, before grinning. "I swear on all that is gears, metal and Motorhead vinyl that I will make the most awesome vehicles Global Justice has ever seen, seriously!"

"We'll see. I'll be keeping my eye on you.," Dr. Director couldn't help but let a triumphant smirk come to her face. "Agent Foint, please escort Dr. Lipsky back to his cell."

"Babe… I have no problem with you keeping your eye on me…" Motor Ed said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively, before Betty moved her hand back to her .357 SIG. "Hey… I was just kidding, seriously!" Dr. Director glowered dangerously at the huge blond as he was escorted out. He suddenly ducked his head back into the doorway, calling out one last parting shot to her, "But my offer still stands… Gas station on my highway of love… Seriously…" He ducked back out before he could suffer any bodily harm, leaving a blushing Agent Foint who hastily saluted before dismissing herself.

The two remaining people in the room glanced at each other, the junior of the two unsure what to make of the recent interruption. Finally, Dr. Director pursed her lips and drew her hand to her chin, deep in thought before addressing the young agent standing next to her desk, "Fine. Bring her in. But do so _discreetly_. She will get a chance to explain herself after all."

"As you wish, Dr. Director," Agent Du said, his tone devoid of the smugness Dr. Director had half expected to hear.

* * *

Shego sighed as she held the cup of fruit punch in her hand. _Being a PE teacher has its moments_, she grudgingly admitted. She thoroughly enjoyed scaring a few students witless on occasion, but this wasn't quite what she signed up for: chaperoning over two hundred swooning students, who were sickening the very night air she was breathing with young teenage affection. It must have had something to do with the lights reflecting off of the disco ball and splashing on the purple and mauve streamers hung around the gym. That had to be what made all these teenagers hoppity, bouncy and hyper with love. That or someone spiked the punch with some sort of love potion. She glanced suspiciously at the drink in her hand.

Somewhere at the back of her mind, she mused: if Drakken could bottle up whatever was turning these teenagers' minds to mush, then he could easily take over the world by sunrise.

Shego loomed quietly behind the eighth smooching couple for the night and cleared her throat sharply. There was definitely no greater mood killer than having that really smoking hot gym teacher, whom all the guys were always talking about in the showers, loom up behind a guy's girlfriend. And said guy realizing that said girlfriend suddenly looked so plain. Without a word, the embarrassed couple slunk back into the crowd, glancing embarrassedly around, and hoping that said gym teacher did not remember their faces.

"Hey, Shego," a light voice called out to her as a lithe teenage red-head dressed in a baby blue sequined, strapless dress sidled up beside her. "Having fun?"

"Hate these things," Shego growled in annoyance. "I don't know what it is about these things that makes you teenagers swoon with love. Anyway, what have I said about calling me by my real name?"

"Right, Sheila," Kim let out a light laugh, "Anyway, it's not about what these things are, it's about who you're with. Besides, you look great in that dress."

Shego glanced down at her own dress for the evening, a simple green and black dress, similarly patterned to her old jumpsuit. It hugged her curves right on the border of some teenage student's fantasy. "Yeah, well…" She rolled her eyes. "I'm not here to have fun anyway. I'm here to watch _you_ have fun."

Kim laughed again at the remark. "Hey, look on the bright side," she smiled at the older woman. "You can stop some of us from having too much fun, right?"

"Eight," Shego smirked slyly. "Eight lovey-dovey couples. That's the amount of fun I've spoilt so far. Not too bad, I guess..." She smiled menacingly as a thought flashed across her mind, and Kim cocked her head questioningly. Shego smiled and let Kim in on her thought with a conspiratorial whisper, "I bet I could do more damage if I tell Monique who those couples are…"

Kim laughed again infectiously, and it made the smile on Shego's face grow a little wider. "So what else have you been doing other than catching people all night?"

"Ducking away from Barkin," Shego said with a groan, as she glanced around nervously. "That man can _not_ take no for an answer! Do I have to hit him over the head or something before he gets the message?"

"Really? What was he asking about?" Kim opened her eyes in surprise.

"He kept asking me for a dance," Shego rolled her eyes again. "And I know it's gonna be a slow one, because I saw him slip the DJ a twenty and said to wait for his signal. Sneaky bastard. I swear, this homecoming mood makes everyone dizzy with love. Love, schmove…"

"Hey now," Kim reached over and patted Shego's shoulder comfortingly. "You won't be saying that once you find someone to love."

Shego looked strangely at Kim briefly before turning away. With a sigh, she spoke in a resigned tone as she quickly changed the topic, "So, I noticed you actually managed to detach yourself from Ron for more than five minutes. I would have thought it was an excellent sign of recovery until I saw you letting Tara have the next dance with him earlier."

"It's no big. I am _not_ going to jel' and I'm sure she won't try anything," Kim smiled, while shaking her head slightly. Her voice dropped low as she leaned in and whispered to Shego, "Besides, I know where she lives."

Shego laughed. "So should I slip her a note and tell her family to leave the country ASAP?"

"Maybe?" Kim smiled innocently. "So how does this compare to your own homecoming? Was it as impressive as this?"

"Never went," Shego shook her head blithely, "Didn't have a date, and didn't want to go."

"Why not?" Kim asked in surprise.

"Princess, in case you forget, I hated my high school life," Shego muttered bitterly. "You know, what happened and all that?"

"Oh, Reggie… Right…" Kim blushed. "I'm sorry I brought that up."

"It's okay, it's a long time ago," Shego brushed off her apology. "Besides, if it was anything like this, I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway."

"Oh c'mon, Sheila," Kim nudged the woman's elbow a little. "It's not _that_ bad. Who knows? Someone, other than Mr. Barkin, might ask you to dance."

"Fat chance, Princess," Shego remarked sarcastically. "I'm a teacher, you all are students. And I'm trying to avoid the only one person that's of datable age. Do you think some tall, dark and handsome stranger might show up from nowhere and just ask me to dance?"

"I wouldn't say exactly tall, dark and handsome…" a male voice interrupted Shego's rant.

With Kim sporting a too-wide grin on her face, Shego knew that she had been set up. With a sigh, Shego turned around and faced him. "Ron…"

"Miss Shego? You look totally beautiful tonight," Ron bowed graciously in his black pinstriped zoot suit, as he held out his hand. "May I please have the next dance?"

Shego glanced back at Kim uncertainly, who wore a strange smile on her face. "You sure, Kim?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sheg-... Sheila," Kim said, sighing with a slight shake of her head. "You're my friend, and Ron's too... Go have a good time, you deserve it," Kim nodded her head. "I just need to go spend some time with my other friends, so you take care of Ron for me while I'm doing that, okay?"

"Kim… I'm not sure…" Shego started but was quickly cut short by the red-head.

"Look, Sheila… I'm really trusting you here," Kim whispered in a hushed, conspiratorial tone to the older woman. "Stick by his side, and don't let any hot blonde cheerleaders come within five feet of him. As a favor to me."

Shego looked in puzzlement at the red-head. "Kim… I'm not sure …"

"Oh, just go!" Kim grumbled good-naturedly as she placed Shego's hand in Ron's and gave the older woman a little push towards the dance floor. "Have fun, Sheila! I'll go hang with Monique for a bit."

Giving Kim one last searching look of uncertainty, she sighed and allowed herself be led onto the dance floor. Somehow, her hand seemed dwarfed in Ron's large paw, and she felt her own legs getting weak as the erratic pounding of her heart thundered in her ears. The back of her neck prickled as if the spotlights in the room had swiveled to focus right onto her, with every pair of eyes in the room following suit, staring right straight at her. Trying to swallow that stubborn lump in her throat, she attempted to keep her gaze focused on Ron. "Um…" she began, unsure of what she was going to say next.

"Relax, Shego…" Ron replied with a gentle smile, as he placed both hands politely on her waist. "Monique's doing rumor control, and I bet all the guys wished they'd asked you to dance first…"

"I don't know if this is appropriate …" Shego started nervously.

"What's not appropriate about it?" Ron cocked his head to the side and gave her a reassuring smile. "We're two friends just having a good time here. Nothing more. So what's wrong with asking you for a dance?"

"But I'm a teacher and you're a student…" Shego pointed out.

Ron laughed as he looked intently at her. "Since when did you care about things like that? I always pegged you as one who didn't care much for the rules. And you know what? If it makes you feel better, you can tell everyone that I owe you two days of detention for this dance."

"But…" the words seized in her throat, as she caught sight of Kim stepping up to the DJ, and whispering something into his ear. With a nod, he reached down the side of his turntables, pulling out a vinyl from his case and sliding it out of its sleeve. The fast paced beat faded to a stop and everyone on the dance floor stopped to look at the DJ.

"Here's one for all those couples out there," the DJ crooned in a deep clear voice. "Better hold on to each other tight, because there's only you two out there tonight." The soft music started playing as the lights slowly dimmed in the gym.

"So how about it?" Ron asked again, not taking his eyes of Shego for a moment.

"You and Kim set this whole thing up, didn't you?" Shego finally relented with an exasperated smile, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Mostly Kim," Ron replied with a shrug. "She's still really sorry for attacking you. I guess this is her way of saying that she doesn't mind you hanging out with me."

"Right…" Shego muttered, as she found herself swaying along to the music. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you two are playing some sort of joke on me."

"No jokes, Shego," Ron shook his head, but kept his eyes on her. "Just that we really want to thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. You've not only saved Kim, but you've also saved our relationship..." he chuckled lightly, "Twice, if I might add."

"Uh huh," Shego nodded as she bit her lower lip, trying to ignore the aching chasm in her heart.

"You know what Shego?" Ron asked softly, after a moment. "I'm glad that the two of you are finally friends."

"Uh huh," Shego replied numbly, not quite hearing his words. Right now, he felt so real in her arms, but she couldn't stop herself from grappling with the bitter fact that he was only a fantasy.

They quietly danced for a moment, sashaying through the crowd, oblivious to everyone else but each other. She kept her eyes trained on him, both loving and hating this moment. She knew it had to end, she knew that each song lasted at most five minutes, and the precious seconds ticked away. She liked the way he held her, and wanted to pull him closer to her, but…

"Shego?" Ron asked suddenly. "Is something wrong?"

"Just something in my eye," Shego lied, as she turned away and dabbed her eye with the back of her hand as not to mess up her mascara.

"Uh huh," he echoed in a concerned tone. Maybe he wasn't as clueless as she thought, or perhaps, somehow, maybe he knew what she was thinking. He gave her a sad look before pulling her closer to him, pressing her body up against his, and leaning his chin on her shoulder.

She felt herself stiffen in his arms briefly, before consciously willing her tense muscles to relax. If this was going to be her only moment like this with Ron, she resolved to enjoy it and not worry about the finer details. She knew that, like all good things in her life, Ron would soon be taken away from her. She found her arms tightening around him, and as if reading her thoughts, he started stroking her lower back reassuringly.

Blinking away the tears in her eyes, she forced herself to joke wryly, "You know, if Barkin saw me in your arms, he'd give you detention 'til you graduate from college."

"Well, since you're in charge of detention now, I guess that just mean I'll see more of you," Ron whispered back into her ear, the grin evident in his voice.

She found herself grinning widely, as she buried her smile into his shoulder. "Oh? Since when did you know how to flirt with the ladies?"

"I'm just telling like it is, Shego," his smile was clear in his voice.

"You know, if I told Kim you said that," Shego teased, "She might have to invent a new style of kung fu just for you."

"Hey now," Ron replied with a smile. "Kim asked me to make sure you have a good time tonight. And that's what I'm doing."

"Uh huh…" Shego smiled demurely as she snuggled in a little tighter. "So how do you like your homecoming so far?" she whispered into his ear.

"My homecoming?" Ron asked quizzically. "Isn't it your homecoming too?"

"They weren't chanting my name before the dance started you know," she replied demurely. "Or have you forgotten? The football and cheer team was chanting 'Sto-Pa-Ble'!"

"Didn't they do it for all the other guys?" Ron asked, furrowing his brow.

"Only you," Shego smiled to herself. "Not everyone ran the winning touchdown, you know."

"Oh," Ron blushed deeply, as he swelled up a little. "Well, you know me, I'm the Ron-man…"

"Hey, Ron?" She pulled away to glance up at his face. "No matter how popular you get with the ladies, don't ever forget me, and... Don't change from who you are now, 'kay?"

"Don't worry, you know, the Ron-man never forget his friends!" Ron nodded with a laugh, before taking a breath and exhaling slowly. "So… Shego…" he whispered after a few more precious moments had slipped by. "Are you having a good time tonight?"

"Maybe?" Shego replied coyly.

Ron grinned mischievously, before shrugging. "Ah, I guess Ron Stoppable has got to be Ron Step-Uppable tonight then."

Shego let out a light laugh, before gently smacking him on the shoulder. "Can't complain about the company though."

"Me and Kim will always be here for you, if you ever need us," Ron graciously offered. "Speaking of which, since when did Kim start calling you Sheila?"

"It's just something to help her get over some of her issues," Shego calmly explained. "Identifying me as Sheila helps her come to terms with my past life and makes her more accepting. Besides, I'd like all my friends to call me Sheila someday. That way, maybe someday, Shego will just be a bad memory." She idly wondered at something for a moment, before a question escaped her lips. "Ron… Why is it you don't call me Sheila?" She waited slowly for the answer, as they gently swayed together in place as one. Her ears picked up on the song approaching its close, as its chorus repeated itself again. She shut her eyes tight and willed for a few more seconds, her heart screamed out for just a little bit more. "Ron?"

With a heavy sigh, he replied uncomfortably, "Well, I've always known you as Shego…"

"But I want you to call me Sheila…"

"I can't…" Ron's voice wavered.

Stopping suddenly in mid-step, Shego looked at the young blond in confusion. "What do you mean you can't?" she asked softly, with a furrowed brow.

"Please don't ask, Shego…" Ron pleaded gently. "Let's just finish this dance."

"Not until you tell me why," Shego pressed on curiously.

"You don't want to know."

"Oh yes I do…" Shego countered quickly.

They locked eyes with each other for a moment, standing still on the dance floor among the other couples. Finally Ron averted his eyes, as he looked away uncomfortably. With his eyes focused on some spot on the gym floor a few feet away on his right, he mumbled that was inaudible to the mint-hued woman.

"What?" Shego leaned in closer to hear his words. "What did you say?"

"I said…" Ron sighed. "I said… If I call you Sheila, I might admit some things, and I might end up hurting you…"

"What things?" Shego asked curiously, intently looking at him. "What sort of things, Ron?"

"I…" Ron stammered. "Shego… Please… Don't ask… I don't want to hurt you or Kim."

Shego stared into his brown eyes, her gaze intent and searching. After a brief moment, her lips slowly curled into a little smile, and she embraced him deeply. "Ron, I... I think I know what you mean," she whispered softly into his ear. "No... I _do_ know… And thank you very much. Thank you."

"No, Shego," Ron whispered back, as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

They held each other closely, blissfully unaware of their surroundings. For all Shego cared, they could have been standing on the edge of the world, ready to fall into oblivion. She was where she had always wanted to be.

Someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder, and in a panic, she quickly let go of the young blond and stepped back hurriedly. With a deep blush painting her cheeks, she turned to face the person behind her.

"Kim!" Shego nearly shouted in surprise. Shuffling nervously in place, she stared at the floor. "Err… We were just dancing…" Shego mumbled guiltily, bearing a sheepish smile. "Really…"

"Sheila…" Kim's face was clearly in mission mode as she grabbed the green-hued woman's hand. "We gotta to go."

"Why?" Shego looked puzzled as she glanced back at Ron. "If this is about…"

"No time to talk," Kim hissed urgently. "We got to get out of here. Wade just intercepted an encrypted Global Justice transmission. They're coming to arrest you now for the theft of some superconducting coils from the Middleton Space Center."

"What?" Shego and Ron echoed in surprise.

"That's why we gotta get out now!" Kim grabbed Shego's hand and started pulling her towards the exit, with Ron quickly following behind.

"But… Why?" Shego asked. Her voice turned hard as she spat out, "Is this another one of Betty's stunts to scare the shit out of me again?"

"I don't know," Kim whispered back urgently. "But let's get out of here first. I don't want them to put you in jail."

"No." Shego stopped suddenly and pulled her hand out of Kim's grasp.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Kim gaped at the older woman, as she stared wide-eyed in surprise. "They're coming for you and we got to get you out of here!"

"No!" The older woman stood her ground and shook her head firmly. "Kim, Ron, no. I'm done with running. I didn't go legit so that I have to run from the law."

"But… You didn't do anything," Kim begged. "You didn't steal anything and yet they're coming to arrest you! I can't let that happen!"

"No, Kim…" Shego shook her head again. "You're right about one thing, I'm innocent. So whatever they got, they can't pin it on me. Let them arrest me; I've been to jail before. It doesn't matter."

"But…" Kim floundered helplessly. "I don't want you to go to jail."

"Kim, I can't believe I'm saying this," Shego muttered under her breath. "Let's just do it their way, okay? Let them put me behind bars. Then you get me out of there. I trust you," she placed her hands on Kim's shoulders and stared deeply into her green eyes, "I trust you to get me out of there, okay?"

"But… But… It's not fair!" Kim raised her voice loud enough for a couple of students to turn their heads, wondering what the commotion is about. "You did nothing! I know you did nothing! You've kept your nose clean and Ron, I and most of the student population can account for your presence for the past two weeks!"

Shego shrugged her shoulders, as she gazed sadly at Kim. "Kim, just let it go. The faster we get this over with, the faster I'll get back home, okay? Kim… Look at me," Shego commanded sternly. "I'm counting on you. No kung fu or wild stuff, okay? Just let me do it this way, okay?"

"Okay, I guess," Kim replied uncertainly.

"Ron, you go tell Barkin that I need to go someplace, and he's the only one left in charge now," Shego looked at the blond. "I'll be fine, right Kim?"

"Right…" Kim looked troubled.

"Heads up," Shego gave the red-head a reassuring smile. "Let's go greet them. I don't want a covert troop of Global Justice agents busting in here and scaring all the students. God knows, the PTA would have my head if that happens…"

"Sheila…" Kim found her fingers wrapping around the older woman's hand. "I don't like this, there's..."

"It's going to be alright," Shego gave Kim's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Let's go…"

"Shego?" Ron spoke her name softly. "You'll be alright, right?"

"Uh huh," Shego nodded slowly. "Definitely. You two better get me out fast, otherwise I'll just have to break myself out, okay?" she joked.

"Yeah, you can count on us," Ron smiled awkwardly. He stood there for a few moments, looking at the older woman who'd been his friend over the past three months. "Shego," he whispered. "Take care."

"I will," Shego nodded. "Now get out of here and let Barkin know before anything happens. I got a welcoming committee to prepare for."

"Right," Ron nodded and turned on his heels, sprinting into the crowd while looking for the hulking man of a vice-principal who was currently reprimanding two teenage lovebirds over the evils of public displays of affection.

"So…" Shego breathed out as she turned to Kim. "What do you say we go say hi?"

"I hope you know what you're doing," Kim muttered back as they walked towards the double doors marked 'Exit'.

"So do I, Kim," Shego remarked quietly. As they stepped out of the gym, and into the staff parking lot, there were no less than five black unmarked Ford Crown Victoria police-styled cruisers with 'US Government' license plates parked in a semi-circle around the entrance. Shego listened intently and heard the telltale sound of silenced jet exhaust; she guessed at least two hoverjets were covering them from the air. Looking around, Shego could make out at least a dozen Global Justice agents training their guns on her, and several others moving around to cover her and Kim from the rear. A slight smile appeared on her lips, as she beheld the company of men who had come just to escort her into custody. Turning to Kim, she wryly joked, "Well, at least they know how to treat a lady."

"Sheila…" Kim said helplessly, as she glanced around at the men surrounding them.

The two of them stood in their place, as a solitary figure stepped out of formation and slowly approached them. Shego squinted, trying to discern the figure, but the cut of the suit and the tinted glasses the man wore made it difficult to identify him. As he got close enough, he spoke, "Sheila Go? You are under arrest," the agent began, reading her Miranda rights in a crisp, professional manner. "In addition, If you attempt to resist arrest, we will not hesitate to use lethal force. Please follow us quietly."

"And what are the charges?" Shego queried in a cool manner.

"The theft of experimental items from the Middleton Space Center." He answered crisply, reaching back for a pair of handcuffs.

"She didn't do it!" Kim suddenly growled at the man, interposing herself between Shego and the agent. "You have no proof!"

"We have evidence, amateur," the man, who Kim realized to be Agent Will Du by his disdain and rampant professionalism, remarked. He remained unperturbed by Kim's accusation. "Now if you please…" He held out a pair of cuffs for Shego.

"Where are you taking our teacher?" a crass voice called out from behind Kim, Shego, and the agents surrounding them. All of them had been so focused on the dangerous woman in front of them that they hadn't heard the gym doors open behind them. Half of them whirled around, keeping their pistols pointed down, but ready to raise them at a moment's notice. Bonnie stood at the door ahead of about a half dozen students, with her hands firmly planted on her hips and her eyes hard.

A worried and confused Tara added in, "Miss Shego, what's going on? You didn't do anything, did you?"

As Monique opened her mouth to add to the questions, Agent Du cut her off curtly. His tone was condescending and superior as always, "That is none of your concern!" he grated, pointing towards the hallway the students had come out of. "All of you, this is a government matter, so for your own safety get back inside... Now!"

"Listen to him, guys," Shego commanded in her teacher-voice, "This is going to be cleared up soon enough." She turned a baleful gaze on Agent Du, "Trust me."

"Not without an explanation!" Bonnie spoke up defiantly. "We have a right to know, and you're not taking her without showing us this_evidence_ of yours."

"They're right, Agent Du!" Kim did not relent one bit as the man turned his attention back to Shego, "She's been here all day, an-..."

"As I said, Ms. Possible and company, we _have_ evidence," Will replied evenly, "That is all you need to know. I believe you are wasting our time."

"Kim!" Shego said warningly as Kim tensed up, staring at the red-head before Kim quietly took a step back. With a loud sigh of boredom, Shego raised her hands, holding them together and let Agent Du slip on the cuffs without much protest. With a loud click, they were locked in place and Shego shuddered from the touch of cold steel on her wrist.

"Now, this way, please…" Agent Du attempted to lead her roughly by the elbow.

"Hang on a minute," Shego interrupted suddenly, as she pulled her arm out of his grip. "On second thought, I don't think this accessorizes well with my dress… So if you don't mind…" She held out Agent Du's handcuffs by a finger and thumb, and dangled them in his face.

The look on Agent Du's face was priceless. A couple of his own men laughing at the display, and even Kim was forced to smile. He stammered, "How did you… Those were GJ-regulation issued handcuffs… They are unpickable…"

"Stuff it, Du," Shego snapped at the gurgling man as she threw the cuffs back at him. "I just want you to know that you could have called and ask me to come in, and I would have cooperated. But," she glowered dangerously at him. "Since you decide to pull this whole circus stunt and arrest me in front of all my students, on a night where these kids were supposed to have fun, I'm not going to make it easy for you…"

She marched off towards the nearest cruiser, leaving a dumbstruck Agent Du behind while coolly ignoring the arsenal of semi-automatic weapons that clicked as dozens of safeties were clicked off simultaneously. She opened the rear passenger door, and got in herself. Before she shut the door, she yelled out, "Hey, Du! Get your ass in here. I don't have all night, you know! I got a class to teach on Monday and a shitload of paperwork to do! And kids! Get back in and enjoy the rest of the night! You still have gym with me on Monday!"

Global Justice's number one agent gulped as he attempted to recover what's left of his dignity, and he quickly strode over to the cruiser. Giving the green-hued woman one last dirty look, he slammed the door shut, and ordered all of the other GJ agents to move out.

Kim and the rest watched, transfixed, as the parade of cars drove out of the staff parking lot. She caught a final glimpse of Shego staring back at her with a forlorn expression. She vowed quietly to the night, "Hang on, Shego. I'm coming.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

With surprising difficulty and self-restraint, I've managed to keep this to about 6k words. I hope that this chapter would be satisfying enough, there's quite a bit to cover, and just as some reviewer pointed out in the previous chapter, the Bundy curse seemed to strike just as Shego and Ron are dancing. Just for the record, a couple of days have passed from the last chapter to this one.

I guess Shego's kinda popular as a teacher, and I think students sticking up for her is something that she's kinda never experienced before. But I think it's sort of interesting to see that she's sort of 'cooperating' with Agent Du, even though she'd like to do it on her own terms. Like the thing with the cuffs. I do feel it might seem a bit tacky, but it's her style. She let herself be arrested, and I guess it's important to her to let them know who is who and that they couldn't arrest her if she didn't want them to.

It might be rather sudden that Kim's calling Shego, Sheila. I wanted to put that in the last chapter, but I couldn't find a place for it, so I decided to leave it behind the scenes instead of having another Kim/Shego moment where they do more counseling and stuff. But it seems appropriate that part of her rehab would be to change her perspective of Shego and calling her by her real name would be an improvement.

So, any comments on the dance?


	7. Chapter 7

Shego sat quietly on her cell bunk, hands held in her lap, primly smoothing out her evening dress. Glancing down at her dress, her fingers lazily traced the green and black pattern near its hem. A small smile came to her lips as she enjoyed the feel of the fabric in her hand.

"You'll come for me, won't you?"

She looked up in her darkened cell and tried to keep her mind busy. Her thoughts drifted to the homecoming dance. She didn't know why she remembered it fondly; not a mere hour ago she recalled feeling bored and annoyed by the event. But her thoughts kept drifting to a certain blond who held her heart in his hands as she lay in his arms and they danced and danced…

She growled out loud to the dark in her cell, "Betts, you owe me one!"

She made a mental note to finish that dance someday. Only if Kim would allow her to. A wry grin came to her face as she amended that last thought. _Even_ if Kim _wouldn't_ allow her to. A cold shiver crawled down her skin as she glanced around and realized how cold the cell was. She quickly rubbed her arms to warm herself, wishing she had a certain pair of arms wrapped around her. She half thought to flare up and keep herself warm with her green plasma, but a quick look around her ten-by-eight cell quelled that notion immediately.

There were four holes in the ceiling, each about two inches wide which had been installed courtesy of Shego's unique abilities. The last time she was here, she tried to break out by force and was instantly surprised when flame-retardant foam erupted from those holes and quickly solidified. Not only did it dampen her powers, she found her movements quickly restricted, and to add to her growing humiliation, Betts personally came down to oversee the foam being hosed off with that smirk on her face.

She had hated the way her hair smelled for weeks. The stale smell of plastic reeked and it quickly dried out her hair. On top of that, her careless actions might ruin this dress. So she sat back and studied the recent additions Global Justice had made to accommodate her great escapades. Two IR-cameras trailed her movements around the cell all the time, equipped with ceramic heat shields to resist her plasma. It was an underground cell, so she couldn't break out the old fashion way by blasting a hole in the wall.

The only way she was going out was the way she came in. The heavy steel door barred her way to freedom, with an electronic biometric lock, there was no way she could pick the lock or tamper with it. She could try and fry the electronics, but there was no guarantee the locks would open. And it would definitely set off the alarm. No, if she was going to get out, she would have to hack it through the wires running in the walls. A simple smash and shorting the wires would be quick enough before anyone noticed.

Then all she had to do was to make her way down the corridor and take out the two agents at the end, before setting off the fire alarm, and sneaking into one of the vents. Through the confusion, while the building was being evacuated, she could easily find her way to Betty's office. She knew the schematics of the place by heart already; the blueprints were under the cheapest security taxpayers money could buy at City Hall, and the additions Global Justice had made were known to her from her time working for the agency. Then, getting the drop on one one-eyed bitch would be easy, and she idly wondered what it'd be like to feel the bitch's nose crack under her knuckles.

_That'd feel so good…_

But it would ruin her dress. Shego furrowed her brow as she wondered why she valued the dress so much. She and Monique had picked it out from Club Banana's Fall collection, and it was already a steal before the girl's employee discount. She'd worn more expensive dresses before, dresses that were much classier and far more elegant than this one. Maybe it was the way Ron's jaw fell when he first saw her in the dress. She giggled at his reaction, and thanked whoever made girls that way that Kim had been running a little late and she didn't see Ron looking at her that way. It made her feel good.

The tell-tale electronic beep made her sit up in surprise. As the heavy steel door slid out of the way, a red blur ducked in and quickly embraced the surprised woman with a hug.

"Shego, we came as quick as we could," Kim glanced up at her. The red-head had long discarded her homecoming dress in favor of her mission clothes.

"Shego," Ron stepped in and with a wide smile gave his two favorite ladies a hug. "Glad to see you're okay."

"Hey, guys," Shego smiled, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the affection. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really glad to see you two too."

"Ahem," a voice interrupted them from behind.

"What?" Kim whirled her head around and snapped nastily at the interloper.

"If you're done fraternizing with the _criminal_," Agent Du spoke coldly. "Let's us proceed with ascertaining her guilt."

"Shego's not a criminal," Kim spat angrily at the stoic Global Justice agent. "Apologize to her!"

"I will not, Miss Possible." The frost in his voice was clearly visible.

"Take those words ba-" A hand quickly shot out and restrained her by her shoulder.

"Kim," Shego spoke calmly. "There's no need to make a scene."

"But he called you a criminal, you're not a criminal…" Kim uttered helplessly as she looked back at the woman.

"I appreciate the sentiment," Shego afforded the red-head a sentiment. "But how do you know for sure?"

"You mean…" Kim's jaw dropped. "But you couldn't be… You're not… You didn't do it, did you?" The betrayed look on her face made the older woman quickly pull her into her arms.

"No," Shego murmured gently, as she brushed her cheek on the red locks. "I didn't do it, but your faith in me is hardly justified."

"But I believe in you," Kim insisted. "You couldn't have done it. You were at school all day an-"

"I know, I'm just not used to people trusting me blindly," Shego smiled gently. "But Betty has a reason for believing I did it. So let's go beat the answers out of someone who has them, not some lowly pawn, okay?"

Agent Du bristled at the backhanded insult. "If you're done," he gritted his teeth, before turning on his heels and marching down the corridor, not caring if they came or not. Either way was fine with him.

"Come on, let's go," Ron said. "The faster we get this over with, the faster we get home."

Shego and Kim nodded as they followed Agent Du's dying footsteps.

* * *

"I don't believe it," Shego slammed her hand hard on Betty's desk. "I don't fucking believe it!"

Dr. Betty Director glared angrily at the green-hued woman and crossed her arms. She picked up the remote off the table, turning off the projector as the lights came on. The expression on her face was even clearer in the harsh light; pissed would have been a slightly mild way of putting it.

"Shego…" Kim glanced up at the older woman. "You didn't lie to us, did you?"

"That's definitely not me in the video, I wasn't even near there!" Shego shook her head as she stood up from her seat, clapping her hands sarcastically. "Brilliant, Betty. Simply brilliant. Where'd you pull up that poser from? Or is this some sort of camera trick?"

"This recording was pulled from the Middleton Academy of Science's security feed," Dr. Director replied coldly. "You were good, they barely caught a glimpse of you. Until the end. But those colors, that tacky jumpsuit and those moves…"

"But… But…" Shego stammered. "Betts, just fucking admit it, this is another game of yours, _isn't_ it?" She raged angrily, the question coming out more as an accusation. "You're just trying to blackmail me into one of your personal assignments. What is it this time? Pick up your dry cleaning?"

Dr. Betty Director gave Shego a cold, dead stare that made her pause midway in her rant.

"That's not her, is it?" Ron interrupted the battle of glares. He gulped nervously as Betty turned to focus on him. "I mean… She was with us throughout the day, from when school started to the homecoming dance."

"Really? Can you account for her whereabouts every second of the day?" Dr. Director remarked flatly.

"Well…" Ron scratched his head nervously. "Before five thirty this morning? No… But after that, yeah… And the time stamp on the video says seventeen thirty-three hours today, which is five thirty-three P.M., isn't it?" He glanced around as he realized that everyone in the room was staring at him in surprise. An embarrassed look crossed his face as he glanced nervously at his shoes, avoiding the 

shocked looks before addressing Dr. Director again. "Besides, she has no reason to do it… Right?" He turned and glanced helplessly at Shego.

"I don't need to know her reasons to arrest her and throw her behind bars," Dr. Director replied evenly. "And can you guarantee that she didn't slip away, Ronald? We have both video and genetic evidence proving her to be at the scene! Witness testimony barely holds up to physical evidence before a grand jury."

"I don't care! I don't know who the fuck that bitch is! But it's definitely not me!" Shego snapped furiously at the head of Global Justice.

"The genetic evidence says otherwise," Dr. Director continued as she pulled out another manila folder and slammed it in front of Shego. "I don't have to tell you how disappointed I am for coming up with this whole charade. Shego, you've sunk to a new low, going _this_ far just to abuse Team Possible's trust."

"I would never do such a thing," Shego glanced furtively between Kim and Ron. "Don't believe a word she says, I did not…"

"Shego…" Ron started.

"We believe you…" Kim continued worriedly. "Don't worry."

"But then," Ron turned his head to look at Dr. Director. "Who is that?"

"The faith you've inspired in Team Possible is truly inspiring," Dr. Director addressed Shego dryly. "I hope they are right, and you didn't set them up for some huge fall later."

"Look, Betts," Shego growled. "That's definitely not me, and you don't have to keep accusing me like that."

"Fine," Dr. Director waved her off. "Anyway, whoever this is, we know one thing for sure; Dr. Drakken is behind this."

"And do you know this the same way you _knew_ that was me in the video?"

Ignoring the snarky remark, Dr. Director continued unperturbed. "Dr. Drakken made his first move; one of his newer secret lairs in the Caribbean, which we have kept tabs on has recently shown signs of operation, and…"

"A secret lair that I've told you people about. Ingrate…" Shego grumbled, muttering the last word angrily under her breath and adding something that sounded like a crude reference to a female's genitals.

"And…" Dr. Director glared at the woman. "We have yet to ascertain whether it is a trap." She turned her attention to Kim and Ron, her demeanor calming slightly. "So I'd like the two of you to proceed cautiously this time, be on your guard, and Global Justice will stand by ready to break in with the heavy guns if you require the support. In the mean time, Shego will be incarcerated so she will not be able to relay any viable information to her previous employer in case this is a setup."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm innocent?" Shego shouted across the room hotly at the one-eyed head of Global Justice. "You just want to throw me in a prison…"

"I want to make sure," Dr. Director replied coldly without even betraying a hint of anger in her eyes. "That Team Possible comes back as safely as possible. If you're truly innocent, you'll volunteer to sit in that prison yourself."

"Fuck you, Betts," Shego ranted back. "And if I don't agree, that means I might as well confess my guilt, right?"

"Glad I don't need to explain that part to you," Dr. Director replied mirthlessly. "Now if you please…"

"Wait," Kim protested suddenly. "I'm not letting Shego go back to prison."

"I'm sorry, that is not up for discussion," Dr. Director replied curtly. "She does not go."

"Why?" Ron spoke up on her behalf. "We trust that she didn't do it."

"It would be safer for you two," Dr. Director said flatly. "Now while we discuss the details of the mission, Agent Du will escort Shego back to her holding cel-..."

"No!" Kim protested again, slapping her palm on Dr. Director's desk. "She's _not_ going back to prison, not if I have anything to say about it."

"This is not your call, Miss Possible," Dr. Director's tone sounded final, but the red-head wasn't about to relent so easily.

"It _is_ my call," Kim stood up and puffed her chest forward. "I'm not your agent, Dr. Director, and any mission I do for Global Justice is a favor… But if you're insisting on putting Shego back in prison, then I won't do this mission!"

"Standing up for your friend is indeed admirable," Dr. Director pointed out. "However, for _your_ safety, it is best she remains in our custody."

"But we know she's not the criminal!" Kim riposted angrily.

"I can't take that risk, based solely on your trust in _her_," Dr. Director replied while pointing accusingly at Shego, her patience worn thin. "We, as a covert agency, have to rely on the cold, hard facts, and the only reason I haven't thrown away the key to her cell is because of recent considerations to Team Possible. But that's the only privilege I can afford you."

"No, Dr. Director," Kim refused coolly as she took a deep breath. "I can't let Shego go back to prison. What kind of friend would I be if I stood by and let her be hauled off like a convict? What example would I set if I let that happen when I know she didn't do anything wrong? That would be ferociously wrong, and I couldn't live with myself if I let something like that happen."

"Miss Possible," Dr. Director sighed. "What am I suppose to tell your parents if I let you two walk knowingly into a trap? A trap that could have been easily avoided given we already have her in 

custody?" Dr. Director gave Shego a stern look. "There is no reasonable justification that I can give for letting her walk free."

"What if…" Ron asked suddenly. "What if she were to assist us on this mission?"

"What?" Shego gaped as she stared at Ron.

"No!" Dr. Director raised her voice as she glared at the blond. "Haven't you been listening to me? Considering the situation, the likeliest probability of success for this mission would be for you two to proceed with this mission as planned, while Shego remains here. That way, we can make sure she is not the criminal, and this whole thing will be cleared up with minimal risk to Team Possible."

"You know, she'd definitely be a big help," Ron continued, giving Shego a weak smile. "She did great against Reggie, and she got me out of a couple of tight situations."

"Yeah," Kim added, quickly picking up on where Ron's argument was headed. "She knows Drakken's lairs very well. Having her with us on the mission would be invaluable."

"This is even worse!" Dr. Director threw up her hands in frustration. "You're letting a potential enemy watch your back, and possibly lead you into a trap."

"But she could also help us take Drakken down faster," Kim pointed out, crossing her arms. "And we believe in her."

"I've always given Team Possible a free rein on the way you handle your missions," Dr. Director spoke through gritted teeth. "But this is one where I _have_ to object."

"Why can't you trust her?" Kim half-hollered at the one-eyed woman. "She's your friend too, isn't she? Didn't you two use to work together? Why can't you trust her now?"

With a loud sigh, Dr. Director glared furiously at the silent raven-haired woman, who sat mutely, trying her best to look inconspicuous during the argument. "This isn't a question about trust. It's a question about mission risks and we want to minimize that risk as much as possible. Even if you say that Shego is one-hundred percent trustworthy..." Dr. Director held up a warning finger to emphasize her next point, "Even if she is fully trustworthy, remember that she used to work for Dr. Drakken." She paused to let that sink in, glancing between Kim and Ron before continuing.

"You have to ask yourself, do you know where her true loyalties lie? Do you know who she would choose? Would it be you or Drakken? You don't know the reasons she _left _Global Justice, and why she allied herself with that villain. So don't throw around that word 'trust' so easily, Miss Possible. This isn't some child's game where you can take a person at face value."

"Stupid blue asshole left me to die," Shego muttered under her breath, her voice just loud enough to interrupt Dr. Director. "What?" She snapped angrily at everyone, all of whom had turned to look at her. "Look, I don't owe that blue idiot anything except leaving him under a mountain of rubble, okay? Besides, Kim and Ron are right. I'll help. And if you want to know why, it's because I want to know who that bitch impersonating me is."

After a tense moment, Dr. Director sat down and composed herself briefly. "Fine," she finally spoke. "Do things your way, Miss Possible. Global Justice will do their best to stand by and provide any additional support in case _something _goes wrong. But Global Justice cannot and will not be responsible for anything Shego does." Her features soften as she looked at Kim. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I'll be fine," Kim smiled confidently. "I can do anything. I got my boyfriend and Shego, my _friend_, backing me up."

"Right," Dr. Director spoke tersely as she shook her head. "Teenagers." She squinted at Shego as she carefully chose her next words. Her deathly tone spoke volumes. "However, there is one condition that you must follow if I allow you go on this mission with Team Possible." She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a high tech looking syringe with a rather large gauge needle.

"What the hell is that?" Shego raised her eyebrows suspiciously.

"Global Justice Sub-muscular Targeted Enzymatic Biotoxin implant," Dr. Director spoke calmly, as she gazed at the mint-hued woman.

"What the fuck, a STEB?" Shego found her own voice hoarse with rage. "What the fuck is that for?"

"This is to make sure that you are who you say you are," Dr. Director didn't flinch as the woman leaned over her desk and yelled at her a plethora of obscene vulgarities.

"What the fuck?" Shego nearly screamed after her cursing streak. "What the fuck did I ever do to you? I don't _deserve_ this sort of bullshit!"

"What is it?" Kim asked the angry woman. "What is that thing?"

"It's a parole officer of the worst kind. Makes sure I return to base under the time limit, before the implant dissolves, releasing an enzyme-blocker that ties itself to receptors in the brain, effectively shutting down heart and lung function," Shego sneered, glaring angrily at the passive face of Dr. Director. "What do I have? Twelve hours? Twenty-four hours?"

"Eight hours," Dr. Director replied calmly. "If not a little more. That particular implant has a casing that normally lasts a minimum of seven days within an average person's body. However, your body's unique metabolism will erode the casing much faster. And it's tamper-proof; if you try to remove it, it will rupture and release the toxin anyway."

"This is fucking dirty of you, Betts," Shego snarled. "Toying with my life like this."

"If anyone is playing with lives here, it's you!" Dr. Director exploded, standing and slamming her palm onto her desk to face off against Shego. "You expect me to let you go as backup for these two? I don't care about your impeccable track record after Ronald saved your life, and I might have turned a blind eye when it was for the arrest of Chesterfield! I wanted to see that bastard put behind bars as much as you did.

She paused and looked at the three others in the room with a deadly fire burning in her eye, before settling her fell gaze on Shego "This is _Drakken_ we're talking about, Sheila! Your former employer and 

someone that you swore loyalty to for over three years! On top of that, you still haven't given one iota of proof other than _witness testimony_, which any halfway competent lawyer could weasel into uselessness, that the perpetrator caught on that video and leaving behind genetic evidence wasn't _you_!"

"You know me, Betts!" Shego hollered back. "How many years have it been? Six? Seven? And you still won't believe me? And I thought we were friends!"

"You know, it's hard to believe a friend who'd just walk out on you without a word for two years and then show up working against everything you hold dear!" Dr. Director replied coldly. "Don't throw that word around like you know what it means. I've covered your ass more times than you ever cared to remember."

"Fuck you!" Shego screamed. "Acting all high and mighty on your fucking high horse! I've a good mind to rip you a new asshole, but you're just so fucking full of it! Hell, you probably wouldn't realize what was happening! Fine! Just spit it out! Just say that you don't fucking trust me, that you never trusted me even back when I worked for you! Just say it!"

"Fine," Dr. Director replied stoically. "I don't trust you. It's easy. I don't fucking trust you, Sheila! You show up suddenly with a total change of heart, you agree to stay in custody and have been a model citizen, and suddenly you have some supposed look-alike committing crimes that only _you_ could have pulled off! As much as I would like to say I know you, I _don't_ know you anymore, Sheila. The young woman I worked with? I knew and trusted with not only my life, but the life of people as important to me as my own life! But as I mentioned, she disappeared five years ago! So for once, instead of _demanding_ my trust, why don't you earn it back? After all, you threw it away so easily the last time."

Shego stared down at the syringe lying on the desk, Dr. Director's words pounding through her ears. She breathed in deeply, trying to calm the throbbing feeling in her temples. "So it's personal, huh? Still pissed off after all these years?"

"I could understand why you left, but never why you decided to work for the other side," Dr. Director replied, "I'm sure Sam would be quite disappointed..." Dr. Director muttered, thinking aloud.

"Don't you dare," Shego grated in a low, dangerous tone, "Don't you dare bring Sam up in this!!" Shego's hands glowed slightly, plasmic flames licked from between her clenched fingers despite her attempts to control it.

"Enough, both of you!" Kim suddenly asserted herself, slamming her hand on the desk in between the two women. "This is getting us _nowhere_!"

"Ms. Possible is right, enough talk," Dr. Director remarked easily, "Drakken needs to be stopped. The only one delaying us and letting Drakken inch closer to victory is you. So what's your decision?"

"I don't have a choice, do I?" Shego crossed her arms and stared down the bridge of her nose at the syringe. Dr. Director shook her head mutely. "Well," Shego shrugged. "Those two need someone to watch their backs after all."

"Uh huh," Dr. Director nodded, sitting down tiredly.

"I guess that's it," Shego replied as she reached out to grab the syringe. Almost instantly, another hand clamped down on top of hers. She looked up to stare into troubled jade eyes. "Kim?"

"Sheila," Kim's voice wavered. "I… I don't know about this… Look, you don't have to do this… It's fine… We'll work something else out instead…"

"Yeah," Ron placed a hand of the woman's shoulder. "It's _way_ too dangerous… I mean… What if we don't make it back in time? Or what if you get hurt… Or the implant gets damaged…" He took a breath as Shego's eyes crinkled slightly at his words, before continuing in a softer tone. "Or something… Please… Don't do it…"

"Look guys," Shego spoke slowly without turning to face either of them. "I know I don't have to do this. I didn't have to do a lot of things… I didn't have to help you rescue Kim the last time. I didn't have to get a job, or try to go clean. I didn't have to play with Hana or listen to your problems. I didn't have to do all of that, but I want to…" She looked straight at Dr. Director who let her eyes rest on some insignificant report on her desk. "Some things I have to do, right?"

"Do whatever you want," Dr. Director waved her off. "I don't care. But you're not going on this mission without that implant. Sheila, you know, these kids seem to trust you a lot, but if they knew you like I do, I wonder if they'd feel that their trust is wholly misplaced. Now get down to the medical ward and get that implanted."

Wordlessly, Shego turned on her heel in a perfect parade turn and making her way towards the door. "Kim, Ron, let's go."

The two dumbstruck teenagers gathered their wits and they scampered out of the office after her, barely saying their farewells to the occupant of the room, leaving her silent in their wake. She stood up, and reached into her drawer and holstered her personal sidearm. Pressing a button on her personal intercom, she barked a few orders. Dr. Director had decided; it was time she took a more hands-on approach.

"Agent Du," Dr. Director called out as Shego opened the door. "Please step into my office."

"Dr. Director," he protested, "I have to escort the pri-..."

"Now, Agent Du!" she growled, "Lieutenant Commander Sites and Team Possible can take care of the prisoner, and we have... Matters to discuss." Agent Du glared at Shego and Team Possible before striding into Dr. Directors office, his frame stiff with indignation.

Shego paced as she waited for word on what she was going to wear on the mission "Goddamn you, Betts, I'm not going to wear a GJ uniform!" she finally whispered, glaring down at her evening gown that she still had on.

"Um, what are we waiting for?" Ron asked nervously, looking around. He and Kim had been watching her pace back and forth in the medical ward for the last ten minutes, her pacing getting more and more aggravated as time passed.

Shego glanced over at him and looked down at herself. "Do you think I should wear _this_ to the mission?" she asked incredulously, waving her hand in a flourish at the hues of her evening gown, her tone far sharper than she'd intended. "Um, sorry..."

"Um," Ron began, before sharp glances from Kim and Shego quelled his comment. "I kinda figured, well..." He reached into the duffle bag he'd brought from his house and rummaged around a bit. He started stammering nervously, feeling both women's eyes boring into him. "Kim and Wade kinda thought, well, _hoped_ you might need this again in the future, y'know... If you ever decided to do something other than teaching or villainy, and..."

"Get on with it, Ron..." Shego said warningly,

He grunted as he pulled out a length of green and black, neoprene material from the duffle. "Wade called me and told me he'd just finished repairs on this, so I had him send it to my house..." He shrugged as he pulled the rest of Shego's restored suit from his duffle bag, holding it out to her, his smile matching Kim's now exuberant one.

"Um…" Shego looked at the garment in distaste. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Kim asked in surprise at the woman's refusal.

"What does that bodysuit remind you of?" Shego sighed tiredly.

"It reminds me of you, Sheila," Kim began. "It's your trademark suit."

"Yeah, exactly…" Shego replied nastily. "And what's exactly about does it remind you about me? Green plasma? Fighting with you? Dishing out a whole lot of hurt? You want me to put on a suit that was the symbol of my villain days, when I was the renowned international criminal, Shego?"

"Shego," Ron interrupted her tirade as he pointed out. "You used to wear it when you were a hero with Team Go…"

"Oh please," Shego waved her hand off. "I've got more bloodstains on that suit than medals of honor."

"Sheila," Kim replied. "That's the thing. You used to be a hero in that suit, _and_ you used to be a villain in that suit. But that suit doesn't make you who you are, it's the per-…"

"Yeah, yeah, save me the cheesey Hallmark moment," Shego groaned. She snatched the garment out of Ron's outstretched hand. "Y'know… It's pretty comfortable though." Ignoring the growing smirks on the faces of the two teenagers, she relented. "Ah what the heck, it's just a piece of cloth. And you," Shego narrowed her eyes at Ron. "Get out of here, unless your girlfriend over there doesn't mind you getting a free show."

She smirked as a red-faced teen hero dragged her hyperventilating blond boyfriend out of the room, making sure to shut the door tightly behind her. "Atta girl," Shego murmured bemusedly as she reached around her back and pulled the zipper down. "You definitely still got it."

* * *

The journey by hoverjet to Drakken's lair was ominously quiet. Despite the low hum of its near silent engines, the air was only occasionally interrupted by the furious jabbing of pen to paper or the rustling of crumpled paper as it was scrunched up in frustration and thrown aside. Yet, all these sounds fell on deaf ears as Shego gazed through the porthole, watching the transport glide effortlessly a hundred feet over the ocean surface. She propped up her chin with her hand, resting her elbow on the armrest, letting her eyes aimlessly drift towards the dark horizon where the sea and the night sky merged into one.

"Hey, Sheila," a warm body sat down next to her and peered over her shoulder, looking out the window as well. "Wha'cha lookin' at?"

"Nothing," Shego replied with a sigh. "Nothing at all, Kim."

"Sheila," the red head asked again, as she placed a hand on the older woman's shoulder. "You've been looking troubled since we left Global Justice HQ. Is that implant bothering you?"

"It's nothing," Shego brushed it aside. "It's not like I haven't been tagged before."

"Then what is it?" Kim asked.

"I'm okay," Shego murmured with a strained smile. "Shouldn't you be helping Ron with his homework? He's sounding a little lost over there." They both took a glance at Ron who had just crumpled up another piece of paper in frustration, before glaring at his notes again.

"He asked me to see how you're doing," Kim replied uncertainly. "He's... We're both worried about why you're looking so down."

"I'm not down…" Shego's protest was cut short by a snort of disbelief from the red-head. "Okay, fine, maybe I am a little."

"So you wanna tell me about it?" Kim asked invitingly. "It's about Dr. Director, isn't it?"

"Yeah, well, maybe..." Shego offered. "I thought she trusted me a lot more before today. She was one of the first who'd give me a second chance when no one else would. Then today she treats me like... Well, even a common criminal gets more respect and rights that me... And all 'cause she thinks I'm trying to lure you into some devious trap. Why? I have to ask… Why?"

"She has her reasons," Kim offered. "I mean, that time with Reggie, she knew you were definitely not working with him. With Drakken… I'm not saying you are, but she's not one to take chances."

"She has given me chances on other things," Shego smiled wryly as she remembered. "I was an obnoxious brat when I first met her… Yet she was the first to give me a chance to work with Global Justice when I was nothing more than a loose cannon. So why not this one? It's not like I haven't proven myself these past, what, almost three months?"

"Maybe she's still thinking about the time you left Global Justice. Like she said, you threw away her trust in you the last time. She was referring to that time, wasn't she?" Kim suggested. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "You two are friends right? I bet she's been asking herself a couple things, like why you went into hiding? Or why you decided to leave everything behind and work with Drakken?"

"She knew those reasons, I left her a letter before clearing out my locker," Shego replied uneasily.

"A letter?" Kim sounded incredulous.

"Well, it was more of a note," the discomfort was evident in her voice. "You think I should have said more?"

"Of course!" Kim almost shouted at the older woman. "What were you thinking?"

Shego glared at her, ready to tear into the young red-head for even asking, but quickly bit back on her anger. She sighed instead and looked down at the floor between her legs. "I just couldn't face her, you know?" Shego remarked softly. "Between Sam and... Her loss..." Kim cocked her head slightly when Shego said this, so the mint-hued woman grimaced and explained. "This stays between us, Kim, but that guy Simon I told you about, the negotiator?" Kim nodded and Shego continued in an even quieter voice, "That was her fiancé... So between Sam, her loss, and... Everything else? I thought I needed a little time to myself. So I just upped and left without a word. Betts already had enough problems of her own to deal with so she shouldn't have had to worry about me."

"Isn't she your friend?"

"Yeah, I would have thought so, until today…"

"I mean, then, wasn't she your friend, and a close one at that?" Kim repeated herself. "I don't know what Dr. Director was thinking at that time, but if I were her, I would've wanted to know why didn't you come and talk to me?" Shego shrugged and Kim pressed on, her face neutral but her voice rising slightly, "Weren't you two friends? Wasn't she someone you could turn to when you need someone?"

"Yeah… But she didn't have time to waste on someone like me…"

"Of course she did," Kim grated to keep her voice down, "And I'll bet she _still_ does! She's your friend! That's what friends do!" Kim interrupted. "She's not that kind of person who'd turn you away, especially if you needed a friend's shoulder to lean on! I know you'll probably think this is cheesy, but you don't always need to be alone and on your own, you know."

"I guess, maybe…" Shego shrugged. "Who knows?"

"You know, I bet that's why she's angry at you," Kim replied. "Instead of turning to her for help, you ran off and gallivant around the world with Dr. Drakken, who had half-baked ideas and ridiculous plans for world domination."

"Hey, in my defense…" Shego started weakly. "I didn't join up with Dr. D until two years after that! And, well, I just didn't care what I did with my life at that moment. I had no one, and… You know how it goes… When you think the whole world is against you and you just want to change it all?"

"You're wrong!" Kim said hotly. "I don't know much about your life, but even though Sam was gone, you still had people like Dr. Director, Lieutenant Commander Sites and Sam's dad... Hell, even your brothers if worst came to worst, and I'm sure there were a lot of other people rooting for you. When you left… I guess they were confused… I would be if Ron suddenly became evil."

"Heh, you mean Zorpox?" Shego grinned wryly. "That wasn't my fault."

"I mean more than that, if Ron suddenly got up one day and left without saying a word, I'd ask why. I'd look for him to the ends of the world and have him explain to my face why he would do something like that," Kim explained. "For all the time we spent together, that's the least he would owe me.

"I guess that's what Betts meant," Shego turned her eyes towards the window. "I guess I haven't been a really good friend."

"It's not too late, you know," Kim replied quickly, expanding her comment slightly when Shego looked at her askance, "To make it up to her, I mean."

"Noo…" Shego groaned suddenly. "It's not that easy to make up with her. Damn that woman, she'll probably want to have a 'last woman standing' competition."

"You two are going to duel?"

"No, okay, maybe you can call it a duel," Shego shook her head sadly. "If you can call drinking each other half to death a duel. It's way messier and a lot less dignified." She sat back and knocked her head against the headrest lightly. "Kim… If you were me… Did I do the right thing?"

"I would have talked to someone…" Kim suddenly blushed as she realized her own words. "Huh, I guess that's the pot calling the kettle black?"

"I guess you understand then," Shego smiled slightly. "I just didn't want her to worry about me."

"But that's what friends do!" Kim insisted. "Friends worry about each other. Friends help each other with their problems, and they are there for you during those times."

"Huh," Shego shrugged. After a moment of staring aimlessly at a phantom spot on the panel in front of her, she spoke out loud, "Hey Kim, just asking, how would you feel if… I mean, after we're friends and after everything that we've been through, how would you feel if I became evil again?"

Kim sat back and stared wordlessly at the aluminum panel that separated the cockpit from the passenger area of the hoverjet. "I'd hunt you down to the ends of the Earth," she quietly whispered. "And when I find you, I'd fight you and beat you; each and every time you even thought of some evil plan to steal something or take over the world. And I'd keep on beating you, until you gave up being evil. The reason I'd keep on doing that is because I _am_ your friend and I will never, ever give up on you."

Shego turned towards the red-head with a smile. "You know, if you'd said anything less, it just wouldn't be you. Thanks, Kim. Thanks… Thanks for not giving up on me."

"Let's just say it's what friends do? Besides, it's my turn to help you," Kim replied, with a light laugh. "I'm not used to owing you favors."

"Then you better get used to it," Shego quipped lightly. "Coz I'm not cashing it in just yet."

"So feeling any better now?" Kim asked with a soft smile.

"Uh huh…" Shego nodded. She glanced over at Ron who was busily chewing on one end of his pencil. "You know what? I think your sidekick's in trouble again. Should we go help him?"

"Sure…" Kim smiled, as she got up from her seat.

Just as she got up, Shego reached up and touched her hand lightly. "Kim?"

"What is it?"

"I… Never mind," Shego turned away quickly. "It's nothing."

"Sheila, you know you can talk to me anytime," Kim said. "You've already shown me such kindness. It's the least I could do."

"Uh huh," Shego shuffled uncomfortably in her seat before throwing a tentative glance at Ron, then staring back at Kim's concerned jade orbs. "Never mind, Pumpkin… It's not that important right now. I'll tell you some other time, okay? Let's just help Ron first."

"Sure thing," Kim smiled before she sidled into the seat next to Ron, leaning into his arm. Following suit, Shego stood up and sat on his other side, peering over his shoulder, looking at the scrawls of homework that had made up his mess, illuminated by the glowing screen of the Kimmunicator. The blond looked up at both of them with a smile, which was immediately returned, before he hunched his head down and continued to plow away through the second derivatives of enzymes which fought in the American Civil war. With their help, he might be able to finish it before they arrived on Drakken's island base.

* * *

**Author's notes**

First off, apologies for a very late and overdue chapter. Interruptions in real life makes writing a lot more difficult and further disruptions to normal writing time are unforeseeable and unavoidable.

But yeah, sure, conspiracy theorists can start speculating as to who is on the video. But that's not what I want to say.

Dr. Director seem to be giving Shego a lot of shit for this, being wholly suspicious of her and being rather obstinate and hostile at times. I just think that Kim's on to something about friends. Betts and Shego definitely went a long way back, but if the matter came to Shego's previous employment as a villain's sidekick, I guess she acts kinda different. I start wondering, is Betty all that tough? Does she always have 

that rough exterior that is always completely unfazed? Or maybe there's a little hint of betrayal here when Shego ditched Global Justice?

I'm sure more could be said, but... Yeah, I'll keep this short, and yay! Finally, the Fannies should be on for this weekend!


	8. Chapter 8

"How do we do this?" Kim whispered aloud as she pressed her back to the rock face of the mountain. She peered around the rocky outcrop at the main entrance of Dr. Drakken's laboratory, biting her lip in concentration. "We got two guards, and one camera. From the looks of it, the front door is electronically locked, which Wade should be able to bypass easily. But we'd probably alert the entire base, and have every henchman, synthodrone and Spinning Tops of Doom down on us in minutes."

"Hang on, Kim," Shego whispered back. "Front door's not good. Dr. D's finally smart enough to place an additional layer of security over his locks, and if you hack into those... Let's just say that the welcome mat probably hides a trap door that drops you in on Dr D's pet mutant octopus."

"Hmm..." Ron mused. "I always wondered why Drakken had a welcome mat at the front door..."

"It's for his mom," Shego sniggered. "The baby's still pretending to be a radio talk show host. Anyway, I got a better idea. There's a vent duct forty feet above the front door. No surveillance, protected by simple laser trip wires, which I'm sure you can easily bypass with some of those gizmos that your Nerdlinger has been providing you. It'll lead you straight to the main hall where Dr. D usually keeps his experiments, and then you can drop in straight in on Dr. D before anyone in the base even realizes it."

"Sounds straightforward," Kim nodded her head in agreement. "Alright let's go."

"Hang on a minute, Kimmie," Shego grabbed her shoulder before the red-head could begin her assent up the mountain. "There's also another way in... It's about two-hundred yards from here, another ventilation duct. The path's a little iffier, it's a little maze in there, but it also leads to the main hall."

"What do you have in mind?" Kim asked.

"Well..." Shego pointed out. "We still don't know who that person is, the one who dresses in my jumpsuit and pretends to be me, right?" she paused for Kim and Ron to nod in understanding before continuing hesitantly, "So... Well, anything can happen, and I don't think we should all go together. We should split up; I'll head around to the other duct, while you and Ron break in here. That way I'll be your backup in case anything happens."

"I'm not sure if we should split up," Kim replied uncertainly. "It's dangerous, and we don't know the enemy's numbers. On top of that, how would we contact you if any of us run into trouble?"

"Trust me," Shego grinned widely. "It's not that dangerous. This is Dr. D, we're talking about, okay? You can definitely handle yourself, and Dr. D has every right to be afraid of me. Besides, this gives us the upper hand in the confrontation. He doesn't know that I'm here, and he doesn't even have a clue that I'm helping you guys out. So I'll be our trump card when he's so focused on you two, I'll hit him from behind, and it's a wrap."

"You make it sound too easy," Kim said. "I'm not sure..."

"Hey, then what are you worried about?" Shego asked accusingly. "I thought you trusted me."

"I do!" Kim protested. "It's just... I'm just worried... What if something happened to you? You're on your own, without someone to back you up."

"Oh please," Shego snorted. "I was working solo long before you started this hero business. I can take care of myself."

"Kim's right," Ron spoke up. "It's not safe to go in by yourself. But I think Shego's plan is a good one."

Shego and Kim turned to stare at the blond who was just full of surprises tonight. "So what do you propose we do?" Shego inquired bemusedly.

"Rufus!" Ron announced happily. At the mention of his name, the pink naked mole rat popped out of Ron's hip pouch and yawned audibly, before rubbing his eyes. Immediately the little pink guy was scooped up with two hands and presented happily to the two ladies. "He'll watch your back, Shego."

"I'm not sure..." Shego replied apprehensively. "Shouldn't he be with you?"

"It's okay! Rufus has foiled Drakken's plans enough times. He's smart, brave and useful, and he has definitely helped us get out of one or two tough sitches. I'd trust no one more to watch your back," Ron declared proudly as he beamed at the naked mole rat. Rufus, who had just woken up yawned again, before settling down to sleep in Ron's palms. "Hey, Rufus, you're making me look bad here."

Shego stifled a giggle. "I've seen what the little guy can do," she smiled at the little fellow in Ron's palms. "Drakken doesn't give the little guy enough credit, he's the reason half his plans are foiled, right?"

"Right," Ron nodded enthusiastically, before depositing his constant companion into Shego's open hand. "Hey, buddy," he said to the naked mole rat. "We're gonna split up for a while, okay? Kim and I got the front door, while you and Shego sneak around the back, got it?"

To Shego's surprise, she thought she saw Rufus nod in agreement and make a squeak that sounded a little like "Gotcha!"

"So, watch her back for me, okay buddy?" Ron continued with his animated conversation with Rufus. "I'm counting on you."

Shego felt a little weird, as she gazed at Rufus with newfound respect. "Okay, I guess it's settled then," she replied as she gently placed Rufus into the pouch attach to her right leg. She petted the pouch gently. "I'll be fine with Rufus watching my back."

They were distracted from the moment as a beam of energy lashed out from the lair, followed a few instants later by a flash high up in the atmosphere before the beam cut off. A moment later, a sizzling, almost lightening like crack from the beam superheating the air around it washed over them, causing their ears to ring with the aural blow. "Okay, _this_ is different," Shego said, her tone sounding as if the admission was distasteful. "Dr. D doesn't normally do the 'proof of concept' thing... We have to _move_, this probably means he's getting impatient." She glanced over at Kim and Ron, her face matching the other members of Team Possible. She reached out and grasped Kim's shoulder, fixing a confident grin on her face, "Kim, I'll be alright, promise."

"If you say so, Sheila," Kim nodded her head. "Just take care, okay? I don't want anything bad to happen on our first mission together."

"Right," Shego nodded her head, then tilted her head slightly so her smile was hidden from the moonlight. "See you guys in a bit. And you guys take care too."

"We will," Kim replied confidently. "C'mon, let's go Ron. We've got another plot to foil."

"Okay," Ron gave Shego one last look. "Be safe, okay?"

"I will," Shego nodded, before she reluctantly turned away and ran into the shadows, away from the moonlight. "Ron, you be safe... And take care of Princess too."

* * *

A lone blue-skinned man was sitting before his main computer terminal; his attention focused on three of the eight monitors, observing security camera feeds one, two and six. He grinned maniacally to himself as he closely observed two young teenagers sneaking slowly through his ventilation system. They were close to the main hall where his latest weapon of genius was sitting innocuously, fully charged after his warning shot against an aging telecommunications satellite. He noted with a smile that it had been ready almost immediately, waiting to unleash death and mayhem across the world unless the world leaders bowed at his feet.

Sipping his hot cup of cocoa moo, he cackled out loud, "Kim Possible, you think you're all that... But this time! This time I have the upper hand!" He leaned back into his seat and rested his feet on the computer console. "Hmm... Sheegsy's right... Those security cameras do come in handy... But how did she know that they'd come tonight? Maybe she deserves a raise..."

He drummed his fingers on the console as he mused. Watching the red-head on screen crouch beside a grilled cover and peer through, he grinned evilly and whispered to himself, "It's show time!"

A loud bang echoed across the room as the grill crashed onto the stone lair floor, and instantly, a young, lithe red-head who stood with her hands on her waist appeared in a cloud of dust. "Drakken!" She announced loudly. "We've got you know. Surrender or..."

"Or?" the blue-skinned man grinned evilly as he cackled loudly. "Isn't it too early for you to issue ultimatums? I've been expecting you. And here's the welcoming committee!" He jammed his finger down roughly on a glowing red button, and instantly all the doors to the hall opened with a loud whoosh, dozens of red jumpsuit-clad men and synthodrones, carrying an arsenal of laser rifles, electric shock staffs and plasma pistols.

"Umm... KP..." a nervous young blond standing behind the red-head tugged her sleeve anxiously, as he wiped beads of sweat off his brow. "As much as I'd like to get your back... You got this, right?"

"Easily," the red-head replied with a smirk.

"As I was saying," the blue-skinned villain cleared his throat and puffed out his chest arrogantly. "Kim Possible! You think you're all that, but you're not! Men! Get her!"

Instantly the red-head leaped into action, pulling her trusty blond companion by the collar behind some crates, narrowly avoiding the barrage of energy blasts that left a smoking scorch mark where they were standing a moment ago. "Go Ron, do what you do best," she ordered.

"Gotcha," Ron saluted, and ran out from behind the crates in a random direction, barely avoiding shots by the belt of his pants. He leaped and dived behind a side computer terminal, crouching as plasma splashed and laser beams bored into his cover. Reaching up with his hand, he felt around for some sort of button, and praying to his gods of dumb luck, randomly pushed anything he could reach.

To his surprise the Ron Factor kicked in and the water sprinklers above burst into a shower of torrential downpour as it soaked everyone below. As water seeped into the sub-standard, mass-produced, bulk-shipped housings of the energy weapons held by Drakken's henchmen, it short-circuited and reversed the polarity of several capacitors. Thus, when the weapons were triggered, those very same weapons exploded in the hands of those who weren't so bright as to throw them away before they blew up.

"A-boo-yah!" the blond teenager cheered from behind his hiding place. Suddenly he realized something as he swept his soaked hair backwards out of his eyes, muttering, "Aww... Man... Now I need a shower."

Taking advantage of the confusion, the red-head jumped out from behind the crates, and executed a perfect spin kick on the nearest henchman, connecting with his head and sending him crashing against the cold lair wall, unconscious. Immediately she launched herself at the next man, jabbing his throat with his fingers, leaving the man gasping for breath on his knees.

Without losing momentum, she lashed out at the next nearest target who happened to be a synthodrone. The kick to the midriff did little to frazzle the artificial being who stumbled back a little under the force of the blow. Undeterred, Kim pulled out her hair-dryer grappling gun and aimed for the rafters above. Swinging with all her might, she slammed both feet into the synthodrone, bowling over half a dozen more men in the process, before landing lightly on two feet at the other side of the room.

"Curses, Kim Possible!" Drakken screeched as he leaped to his feet. "Men! What are you doing? She's only a teenage girl! Get her!"

"I guess you should hire better henchmen," Kim taunted as she ducked a weak punch and performed an uppercut that resulted in a loud crack, her victim's jaw unhinging as it dislocated painfully from his skull. "Getting them bulk from Smarty-Mart wasn't such a great idea."

"Hey, KP!" Ron called over from his corner, as he dodged three men about to pounce on him. "No fair, no slamming the Smarty-Mart good name! Henchmen, aisle one hundred and thirty three; perfect for the aspiring world dominator. Not for actual world domination! It's not Smarty's fault Drakken here didn't read the fine print."

"Sorry, Ron," Kim called back. "Guess Drakken doesn't actually want to take over the world."

"N-gah!" Drakken grunted as he gashed his teeth together. He surveyed the chaos as the main hall was littered with unconscious men and green-oozing synthodrones. "Fine! Get her, Sheegsy!"

"Sheegsy?" Ron paused in mid-step as his face twisted up in confusion.

"Sheegsy?" Kim echoed as she finished dispatching the last standing synthodrone with her nail file. The puncture wound she'd inflicted immediately erupted with a mess of green goo, the artificial being deflating like a balloon and pooling around her feet. She turned her head just in time to see a green and black shadow launch itself off the catwalk above. The blur angled towards Kim and tackled her to the ground, easily pinning her down with the force of the blow.

"Hello, Princess," a familiar pale-green face with a contorted sneer mocked, glaring down at the red-head lying on her back. "Miss me?"

"Sheila?" Kim looked up in surprise at a smirk she hadn't seen in the last three months. "What are you doing?"

"Why," the villainess crowed. "Kicking your ass, of course!"

Kim barely got the next word out, before a flaming green fist slammed towards her face. She instinctively deflected the blow with her forearm before bucking her hips and throwing her attacker off-balanced. She rolled out of the way, before springing to her feet. "Sheila?" Kim gaped in confusion.

"Stop calling me that!" the green-villainess roared as she swung her fists wildly in the direction of the red-head.

Kim barely jerked her head back out of the way, and she stumbled backwards as she tried to put some space between the two of them. "Sheila... Wha-... Why?"

"What do you mean 'Why?' Cupcake?" she growled back. "This is what I do!"

On the other side of the room, Kim's blond sidekick was being chased by two henchmen before he took one bad misstep on a puddle of syntho-goo. He flailed his arms desperately as he skidded and slid across the room, screaming his head off, zooming past Kim just to crash into a startled green-skinned woman. "Oh god, oh god," he murmured repeatedly to himself, as he found himself lying on top of a set of luscious curves. "Oh god, Shego, I'm so sorry... I didn't know..." Ron paled as he realized that his left palm was resting on something soft and womanly.

"Why you cheap perv..." a feral growl emanated from the woman's throat, as her left hand shot out and gripped Ron's throat tightly in a vicious grip. Ron's face quickly turned beet red as he made strangled noises: gargling, spluttering, doing everything he could to get some air into his lungs. His nails scrabbled futilely at the death grip on his neck as the mint-hued woman below him continued her angry tirade, "What, growing tired of Cupcake's itty-bitties so you have to cop a feel from a real woman, Buffoon?" Pushing off with her right hand, the green-skinned woman got to her feet, unrelentingly maintaining her hold on the blond who was now held aloft, begging for air.

"Sheila!" Kim screamed at the woman, as she rushed to her boyfriend's aid. "Sheila! Stop it! You're hurting him! You're hurting Ron!"

"Shut up!" she roared at the brash red-head, swinging her right arm in a vicious backhand that sent Kim flying back to fall sprawling on the floor, dazed and shocked. She whirled her attention back to the blond as she lowered him to gain leverage. Ron slumped to his knees, his face already blue from a clear lack of air. "Now for you..."

Ron glanced up feebly at the blurring image of a raven-haired woman, and a glowing green fist with flaring plasma bearing straight at him. His lungs screamed for air, but despite his struggles, his hands felt leaden as he swatted weakly at the vice-like grip on his neck. As his eyelids started to flutter, his last fleeting thought was how he just wanted it all to end.

"KP!" he choked out hoarsely. "Sidekick... In... Tr-..."

His vision was nearly blinded by a bright flash of green light.

Ron was vaguely aware of a falling sensation, his limbs hanging loosely in the air, the wind rushing past his face. Falling into darkness... His head was suddenly jerked back as two strong hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back up, preventing an unsightly meeting of nose and concrete. A soft hand caressed his cheek as he struggling to stop the room from spinning by drawing in huge gasps of air, his tortured throat forcing hacking wheezes from him.

"Ron?" a gentle voice called out to him. "Ron! You okay?"

"Sss-shuh?" Ron slurred, his head lolling forward. His eyes slowly focused on a pair of black boots below him. As he raised his head slowly, he came face to face with a pair of concerned green eyes. "Shego?" he croaked out.

"Yeah, it's me," she smiled with relief evident in her voice. "Thank God you're okay..."

"But... But..." Ron exploded in a series of hacking coughs as he rubbed his sore neck. "I thought... You were... You..."

"Ron, that wasn't..."

"Who the flying _fuck_ are _you_?" a loud voice exploded from Ron's left. There was a loud whooshing sound, followed by the crack of splintering wood as a crate was hurled against the wall. "Who the..."

"Wha-..." Ron mumbled weakly as he turned his head to see a green-skinned woman, with long flowing raven-black hair and dagger-like emerald eyes, dressed in a styled green-and-black catsuit. She stood gawking in his direction. "Shego?"

"Right here, kiddo," a finger pressed the blond's cheek and pushed his face forward. "I'm right here."

"Huh?" Ron's jaw dropped as he wheezed a little. "Shego... If you're here...Then... Who's that?"

"That..." Shego's voice turned grim, as she turned to face her doppelganger. "Is what I would like to know too. Stay back, Ron..." She drew up to her full height as she slowly pushed Ron behind her. "Who are you?" she demanded as calmly as she could.

Just like a mirror image, the other Shego stared back silently. Despite the intensity of the stare, the other Shego stood relaxed even in her apparent rage, her stance a precise mirror of the real Shego. Her hands were still covered in roiling plasma, occasional droplets of the substance dripping from her hands 

to dissipate with a bacon-like sizzle as they struck the floor. Taking a slow, careful breath, Shego pulled herself away from Ron and Kim, interposing herself between them and this new threat.

Doubt and confusion flashed across her mind. She knew those powers as her own, those hands, body and face as her own. That stance, that jumpsuit, even that hair. The way she stood and flexed her knuckles, readying herself as familiar muscles flexed and tensed in anticipation. The way she nudged her left foot back a little, preparing to spring forward, distributing her weight evenly with that catlike grace. Every single thing about her screamed 'Shego'.

But if that was her...

Shego took a slow, cautious step to her left, and to her mild annoyance, her doppelganger imitated her. Cautiously they encircled each other, like two beasts sizing each other up before the lethal engagement. Step, cross, step... It was a slow hypnotic dance as the doppelganger sought to match her opponent's move evenly. Shego flared up both her hands, and raised them to her ready position, waiting for the first inkling of a sign... An opening to strike...

"Sheegsy! What are you doing?" A loud voice hollered from under a desk somewhere, as a head nervously peeked out. "Is it over? Are they gone?"

Two incredulous pairs of eyes swivel to look at the blue-skinned man who was busy dusting off his blue lab coat. He vainly smoothed back his hair, making sure it was still in its short ponytail. Shego heard a feral sound coming from her throat.

"Sheegsy? Why are you... Oh snap," Drakken gulped as he stared at the two women glaring furiously at him.

"Dr. D, who the _fuck_ is this bitch?" Shego yelled at the blue-skinned man.

"Oh, Drewbie..." her doppelganger purred singsongy voice laced with faux sweetness. "We need to talk."

"Drewbie?" Shego shot a deadly glare at the other woman. "What do you mean _Drewbie_? Who are you, his mom?"

"Shego, Shego, Shego," the woman purred coquettishly as she sauntered over to a perspiring mad scientist, draping an arm over his shoulders. She lit up her hand, twirling her flaming hand dangerously close to his face.

"Dr. D..." Shego began warningly, but the voice of her double interrupted her.

"I guess we haven't met. I know so much about you... _Everything_ about you, really... But I guess you don't know one damn little thing about _me_, do you? Let me introduce myself!" With a flourish, the woman bowed as best she could with an arm planted firmly about Dr. Drakken's shoulders. "My name is Sheegsy, and I'm..." she extinguished both her hands, and roughly grabbed Drakken by the sides of his face, and mashed her lips roughly into his, as if she wished to devour him. After a shocking moment, she pulled away from a stunned mad scientist and licked her lips proudly as she turned to face Shego. "As I was saying... I'm Drewbie's new assistant _and_ girlfriend."

Shego felt her knees go weak as a queasy, and nauseating dizziness started welling up from the bottom of her stomach. She gaped uncomprehendingly at the two before her, then closed her mouth to swallow the gorge she felt rising behind the nausea.

"Drewbie," Shego's doppelganger crooned softly to the mad scientist. Dr. Drakken, still half-dazed and in shock over the recent turn of events glanced at her with a dreamy look on his face. The hungry kiss from his girlfriend did little to help as he dizzily turned his head towards her. "I thought you said she was dead."

"She... Bla... I swear... I thought..." Drakken rambled nervously as he threw a guilty look towards Shego. "Maybe... I was wrong? Oww!" Drakken squealed in a high, girly pitch as Sheegsy pinched a nerve on his shoulder.

"Drewbie... We need to have a serious talk about this... Okay?" Sheegsy grinned evilly as the mad scientist nodded his head vigorously.

"But Sheegsy..." Drakken whined. "I didn't know... It's not my fault..."

A large flaming green ball of plasma suddenly came hurtling towards the couple, only to be coolly batted aside by Sheegsy. "Hey... Do you mind? We're having a couple's moment here."

"Like hell you are!" Shego yelled furiously. "Drakken, you better tell me who the fuck this woman is and where the fuck she came from and why the _fuck_ you two are swapping spit!"

"Ah... Words hurt, you kno-..." Drakken muttered before stopping in mid word as Shego's hands flared brighter than he'd ever sent them. "Hehe..." Drakken rubbed his neck sheepishly. "You know... Shego..."

"Let me handle this..." Sheegsy interrupted, as she stood to face Shego. "Like I said, I'm Sheegsy, and I'm the woman fucking your former boss."

"Fucking?" Shego and Kim all yelled simultaneously, the shock and unease in their voices mirrored by the green hue suddenly overtaking Ron's face.

Later, Ron would have testified that Shego had turned a shade of green that he never even knew was possible. And Shego could hear the sound of retching from her right side, making Shego wonder if the blond just lost his breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Yup," Sheegsy remarked coolly, as she tickled Drakken's chin. "He's such a darling sometimes, plus it's cute the way he calls chocolate milk 'cocoa moo'..."

"I don't want to know!" Shego snapped as she turned to the mad scientist. "How the fuck... No... Let me guess... You broke my 'No cloning' clause, didn't you..."

"Err..." Drakken looked nervously at his shoes. "I had my lawyers check... You should know dying voids your contract and hence I didn't break anything..."

"Oh yes it does!" Shego hollered. "Not only am I not dead, but you didn't bother to find out _whether_ I was or not! Then you went ahead with yet _another_ of your hare-brained schemes to make this... This... Bimbo wearing a Shego costume... And I don't even know how to feel about you _sleeping _with her?"

"Hey!" Sheegsy interrupted. "I resent that bimbo in a costume remark! For your information, I'm one-hundred percent genetically identical to you, from your DNA to your fingerprints! And I have every single memory you do up to the time you die-... _Almost_ died..." a devilish smirk played at the woman's features as she pondered her statements, before chuckling darkly at Shego. "Like identical twins but better... So I guess that makes you my sister. Hey, Dr. D... I have a sister!"

"You're _not_ my sister!" Shego retorted, her temples throbbing with rage. "You're not my anything! You're just a damned abomination created by this whack job, and prancing around with my looks, my skills and my identity!" She tensed as if readying an attack, focusing her attention on her former employer in the form of a blistering gaze.

"Now, now, Shego..." Drakken tried to placate the furious woman. "Calm down for a moment..."

"Calm down?" Shego raised her voice even louder. "You're asking me to calm down? You got some major explaining to do..."

"I thought you were dead..." Drakken offered meekly.

"Do I look dead to you?" Shego growled.

"It was a big cave-in..." Drakken muttered.

"Like hell... If it wasn't for Princess looking for her sidekick, I don't think I'd be here today to rip your stupid head off!"

"But Shego..."

"Oh will you look at the time... We could have a nice family reunion, sis," Sheegsy grinned toothily as she interrupted Shego. "But I think we better jet... We'll let you have this victory for now... Consider it a present from your long-lost sister..."

"Why you..." Shego growled.

"Tata!" Sheegsy waved as she slung Drakken over her shoulders and took off running towards the hangar door. On her way she slammed her fist down on the self-destruct button. "It's been nice meeting you... Next time, do let us know when you're dropping in."

"Self destruct sequence initiated. You now have two minutes, thirty-seconds to exit the lair." A cool electronic female voice intoned as klaxons blared out, the lair suddenly drenched in red emergency lights. As Shego darted forward to chase after the two, a hand shot out to grab her by the arm.

"Shego, let them go..." Kim offered quietly, as she locked eyes with the woman. "We need to get out of here, and Ron's still hurt."

Shego threw a pained glance at the hangar door before turning her back on it. She hurried over to Kim who was just helping Ron to his feet. Sliding her shoulder under his arm, she helped him stagger towards the nearest exit, but not before casting one final look at the hangar door.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Yeah, considering the last chapter, it was pretty obvious it was a clone already. I wasn't going to dance around with who Sheegsy is any longer. I guess people have been guessing since the end of the last story, so there you have it, Sheegsy is indeed a clone.

The reason I didn't want to drag out the whole Sheegsy deal, keeping her in the dark is because well, now that Sheegsy's out here, I can sort of write a bit more about Shego and what's she thinking and going through at this point. She's always been apprehensive about cloning; the 'no-cloning' clause in her contract is something huge. So it's something that I wanna try writing about.

Then again, Sheegsy is a new character. New characters mean a lot of back story, as in what happened in the three months between Shego's apparent death and Drakken finding out that she's not dead. Sheegsy can't just be explained as simply as "Oh, she's a clone, end of story". She's her own character: she's unique, albeit a clone of Shego. Her thoughts are different, and she's apparently in love with Drakken, which is something that never came up with Shego. Except under the modulator, and hey, I'm ignoring Graduation here (since in this fic, it's still months off!). So questions abound about that.

And then we have Drakken's earlier cloning attempts. His earlier attempts resulted in zombies which are soluble in soda, so how is Sheegsy any different from all of that? Also, why does Sheegsy have Shego's memories? Cloning is just physical isn't it? These are a bunch of questions that I'm thinking of at the moment, but I'd expect Sheegsy to play a much bigger role in things as the story progresses.


	9. Chapter 9

A gentle knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Leave me alone," she mumbled from underneath her comforter, ducking her head underneath the covers. She shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep. However, much to her annoyance, her request went unheeded as the door opened heard footstepswalking into her room.

She didn't budge an inch to acknowledge the intruder, put kept the sheets and comforter tightly pulled over her head. She felt someone sit down next to her and nudge her shoulder gently, instinctively pulling away from the touch.

"C'mon, Shego..." Ron's voice called to her. "I know you're up. It's already two in the afternoon. Any later, and I'll have to call you down for dinner."

Shego groaned a garbled "Geddafukouta'ere," as she rolled on her side away from the blond.

"C'mon, Shego," Ron cajoled gently. "Get up, you haven't had anything to eat all day, so I brought you something." He laid a warm paper right next to her face. "Smell that? That's cheesy goodness right there for you, sure fire way for a good pick-me-up."

"You know, you're the only person who thinks Bueno Nacho is a cure-all," Shego's muffled, annoyed voice groaned from underneath the sheets.

"It sure is..." Ron grinned happily now that she was talking. "Nothing feels better than a warm chimmerito in your stomach."

Shego threw off her sheets and gave Ron a dead-pan stare. The young blond returned her gaze with a smile and picked up the paper bag, shaking it a little in front of her with that stupid grin on his face.

"C'mon, Shego..." Ron teased. "You know you want it. It even has your name written on it. That's the only reason I haven't eaten it yet."

"Hmph," Shego sat up as she snatched the bag out of his outstretched hand. "I better not find any bite marks in this." She griped as she spied Rufus drooling on Ron's shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, she added. "Or naked mole rat teeth marks..."

"Aww..." Rufus groaned, as he flopped listlessly on Shego's blanket.

With a smirk, she reached in and pulled out a wrapped chimmerito and slowly peeled off the packaging. While watching Rufus out of the corner of her eye, she inhaled the scent of the meal before her deeply, just to tease the little fellow; she suddenly realized how hungry she had been. Taking a large bite into the warm unleavened bread and its various fillings, she savored the tangy, rich taste in her mouth. She found herself licking her lips as she thought this was easily one of the best meals she had ever had.

She looked at the little naked mole rat, and felt crestfallen at the quivering lower lip and almost pouty look on his face. "Oh alright," Shego finally relented as she tore off a cheese-laden slice of bread and handed it to a very grateful naked-mole rat.

Watching him wolf the piece down hungrily, Shego could not help but grin. Rufus finished licking his lips and cleaned his claws before looking up expectantly at Shego again.

"Hey, I haven't eaten all day, you know," Shego grumbled good-naturedly. "I'm hungry too."

She could have sworn she heard the little fellow say "Please?" Cocking her head to the side in confusion, she studied Rufus a bit more closely. He was standing on his hind legs, thumping his short tail on the bed while holding out a paw expectantly.

"Alright, alright," Shego smiled as she tore off another piece choked full of three types of reprocessed cheese for Rufus.

"Hey, hey!" Ron interjected, as he watched his best buddy devour the piece of cheese hungrily. "What about me?"

"You can feed yourself," Shego laughed along with Rufus.

"Traitor," Ron shot his best buddy a dirty look. "So much for the solidarity of brotherhood. If I don't get cheese, you shouldn't either."

Rufus blew Ron a loud raspberry, before scuttling up into a surprised Shego's lap and curled to sleep immediately.

"Why you..." Ron fumed as he watched Rufus's antics. "Let's see who's sleeping in the doghouse tonight."

"It's okay," Shego crooned as she scratched Rufus's head. "You can sleep with me tonight."

"Ah fine!" Ron threw up his hands in frustration. Watching Shego munch slowly on her meal, Ron decided to hazard a new direction in conversation. "So... You wanna talk about it?"

"About what?" Shego studied the fillings of her chimmerito closely. She reflexively scratched the bandage on her underarm where the deadly enzymic poison implant was removed by Global Justice's medical staff.

"You _know_ what..." Ron began. "The whole Sheegsy thing. I can tell it's bothering you..."

"I'm fine," Shego lied.

"Then why are you still in bed? The same bed you've retreated to for the last three days when you're normally out and about here at home?" Ron asked in a neutral tone.

"Smartass..." Shego grumbled beneath her breath as she lashed out. "I'm fine! See! I ate your stupid chimmerito, now you can get lost!"

The hurt look on Ron's face said it all, and he sighed deeply, before scooping up a sleeping Rufus off her lap, and standing from the bed.

"Hey wait..." Shego called out guiltily. "Hey..." She didn't know what to say when those brown eyes turned look at her. "It wasn't a stupid chimmerito, 'kay? It was... Nice... Thanks."

"No prob," Ron shrugged nonchalantly as he headed towards the door. "Guess I'll leave you to your thoughts then..."

"Ron..." Shego stared helplessly at his back. At the sound of his name, he paused with his hand on the door handle. "Ron... Hey... Umm... Look, you know me... I'm not good with talking and all that touchy-feely stuff..."

"It's okay, Shego," Ron said with a strained. "I understand."

"That's not it..." Shego spoke up. "I mean... Look... I guess I need to talk, but I don't know how."

"You could just say what's on your mind."

"That's not it either..." Shego struggled with her own thoughts. "You ever get the feeling that you have something... Something you could only tell a friend... But you don't ever want your friends to think of you that way?"

"Uh huh?" Ron nodded.

"So yeah..." Shego sighed. "It's one of those things..."

"Hold that thought," Ron interrupted her, as he scuttled out of the room in a hurry.

Shego sighed as he slammed the door shut, closing her eyes and letting herself fall back on her pillow carelessly. "Way to go, Shego..." she mumbled to herself. "Keep this up and you might just win 'Friend of the Year' award."

She shut her eyes to forget about her problems that seemed to keep piling up endlessly. As she thought aimlessly for a moment, there were loud stomping sounds outside her door, followed by Ron opening the door open loudly. As she sat up to look at him, she noticed he was carrying a flashlight.

"What's that for?" Shego nodded at the object in his hand.

"Don't worry," Ron said, as he walked over to her bed. "Now scoot over a little."

"Huh?"

"Just do it..." Ron grinned.

"Oh well... Hey! What are you doing?" Shego protested as Ron slipped under the sheets with her, and leaned against the headboard. "Hey! You know I normally wouldn't mind you getting in bed with me... But..."

"Don't worry..." Ron spoke reassuringly. "Now here..." He lifted up the covers and pulled them over Shego's and his head while sitting. As he switched on the flashlight, he grinned mischievously at her and asked, "Comfy?"

"Yay, we're playing hide-and-seek in my bedroom," Shego rolled her eyes in sarcasm.

"Technically, this is the guestroom," Ron pointed out.

"Whatever," Shego snorted. "So what's this about?"

"Oh, it's just a little game Kim and I used to play," Ron explained. "See here? Everything we say under this blanket stays under this blanket... So to speak... Kim and I use to do this when something was eating her, or when I had something to share that I didn't want anyone else to know..." A goofy grin sported on his face. "Ah... Good times... Good times..."

"Okay, so what does this have to do with me?" Shego asked.

"I thought that maybe you want to talk..." Ron began. "And since you didn't know how... I thought hey, this might be a great idea."

"This is a child's game..." Shego sighed in exasperation. "I don't need this..."

"C'mon, Shego..." Ron begged. "You said you needed to talk..." Seeing that Shego was still hesitant, he brought for the only thoughts he could come up with to get her to open up. "You know," he spoke in a soft serious tone. "I'm the reason Kim went all mad-fu on you..."

"What are you talking about?"

"See, that was Kim's problem," Ron began with a sigh. "She didn't want to talk to me about what was bugging her... And if only I'd sat her down sooner, and asked her what was wrong, then maybe she wouldn't have... You know... Gone all three shades of crazy on you... And I'm thinking it's the same with you... I know that your secrets are your own... But I just want to let you know that you can talk to me anytime."

"Ron," She sighed and shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment. "Okay, okay, since you're so insistent... I'll talk." As Ron nodded his head enthusiastically and opened his mouth, she quickly clamped his mouth with her thumb and forefinger. "Hang on a minute," she said. "I'm still a little confused by all of this... So if you don't mind..."

Ron nodded his head and made a zipping motion with his mouth.

"God, this feels dumb," Shego began with a sigh. "How do I begin? God, I don't know... Do you know how I felt when I first saw her? Sheegsy, I mean."

Ron shook his head.

"I felt..." Shego shook her head. "This feels wrong... I wanted to wrap my fingers around her neck... And choke the life out of her..." She stared silently at Ron for a moment who only sat there impassively, urging her to continue. "Then it sort of got worse from there..." she slowly began as she studied her nails under the dim flashlight. "I wanted to tear her hair out, cut off her face and... And burn her to ashes so that she looks nothing like me. Oh god, fuck..."

"Come here, Shego," Ron invited, as he pulled her in for a hug. "Shh... It's okay..."

As Shego leaned her head on his shoulder, she continued her thoughts, "It's like... I want to kill her... She shouldn't exist... She's like... A freak or something... An abomination... And I want to... When I look at her... I think what a freak she is... But... She's a freak with my face..."

"Shego..." Ron called quietly as he stroked her hair gently.

Ignoring him, she continued on, "It's like... Everything she does... Her moves, her hair, her... Her everything screams me... And I'm reminded that that's how I look like... And my mind screams freak! And I'm... I... But it's me! I'm the freak! I'm the one who looks like that too! If I look into the mirror... I see myself... And I think of her... And I... Look at me... I'm a monster... The things that I want to do to her..." She gripped his jersey and pulled at it, bunching the thin material tightly in her fists "_God_... I'm not making much sense, am I?" Shego asked as she drew back.

"Don't worry about it, Shego..." Ron began. "You're making perfect sense to me... And you're not a freak."

"Easy for you to say..." Shego retorted blithely. "You don't have a clone of yourself walking around out there kissing Drakken..."

"Eww..." Ron shuddered at the thought.

Shego snickered before falling silent. "Ron..." she began. "If I died... Would you miss me?"

"Aww... Shego, you're not going to die," Ron replied uncomfortably.

"Everyone grows old and dies..." Shego shrugged, as she looked at him expectantly.

"I try not to think about it," Ron replied. "It's just all too deep for me... Like if I die... Does Bueno Nacho have a franchise in heaven?"

Shego punched him hard in the arm. "Hey!" she laughed. "Could you be serious for a moment here?"

"Okay, okay," Ron winced as he rubbed his arm. "Shego... You're my friend, I'd miss you, of course."

"Would you ever... You know... Replace me?" Shego asked quietly.

"Aww... No way... No way at all," Ron shook his head earnestly. "Besides, where else am I going to find a cool gym teacher that doesn't make me run extra rounds?"

"Hah," Shego snorted with amusement. "Is that all I'm good for? A gym teacher?"

"Nah," Ron smiled as he reached around her shoulder and gave her a good squeeze. "You're a good and important friend too. Even if she does look as good as you," Ron winked. "You're my pick any day."

"Maybe that's because I wasn't the one trying to kill you," Shego pointed out with a grin.

"Oh yeah..." Ron nodded. "That too."

"But thanks, Ron," Shego sat back against the headboard. "It's just... Am I... Am I really worth that little?"

"No... Not at all," Ron insisted. "You're one of a kind."

"Was that intentional? May I remind you that there's another one of me running around out there?" Shego asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, trust me, she's got nothing on you," Ron grinned. "I mean, gosh... She's lip-locking with Drakken. That's got to be desperate... Really..."

"Can you really blame her?" Shego laughed at the comment. "I bet Drakken played with her mind a little and made her a bit crazy..."

"A bit?" Ron exclaimed incredulously. "I mean... It's Drakken!"

"Well," Shego said in a considering manner, "If he wasn't so damn crazy he probably wouldn't be too bad." At Ron's aghast look, Shego gave him her trademark smirk, "Hey, I don't want to date him, just being honest!"

"Yeah?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow, "But just a bit crazy?"

"Well, maybe a whole can of crazy..." Shego mused, her smirk falling to a more neutral expression. "Besides, what kind of nickname is Sheegsy anyway? It sounds like a dog's name or something... Crazy bitch..." Ron's grin of amusement caused the woman to stop in mid-rant. "What?"

"Oh nothing," Ron wondered out loud. "It's just... What kind of name is Shego anyway?"

"Hey!" Shego protested before slugging him in the arm again.

"Ow!" Ron winced in pain. "Okay, no more jokes about the names..."

"You got that right," Shego nodded, as she became silent again. "Ron... Thanks... For making me laugh... And making me feel like I matter..."

"Of course you matter!" Ron exclaimed, his face askance at her comment.

"I mean, _really_ matter," Shego looked at the blond. "I... I worked with Drakken for three years... I thought that time at least meant something... I just thought... I just thought that at least I'd be appreciated somehow in the very least by a man whom the world ignored and laughed at. I thought he'd at least understand how I felt..."

"Shego... Don't be so hard on yourself..." Ron reassured her. "Drakken is just a lousy employer."

"I'm not just talking about Drakken!" Shego cried. "I... I'm... I'm special, aren't I?"

"Huh?" Ron asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Shego turned away. "I'd like to believe I'm special... I like to believe that somehow, I do matter... That someone appreciates me... And cares about me... And that someone..." She stopped and looked down at her hands, where they were still holding tightly onto Ron's jersey. She sighed and relaxed her grip, closing her eyes so she didn't have to see what the young man she'd fallen for thought of her.

"That someone loves you?" Ron finished the rest of the sentence for her.

"Yeah..."

"Hey, hey..." Ron spoke softly. "I'm one hundred percent certain that someone out there loves you."

"Out there?"

"Yeah..." Ron smiled. "Well, maybe not as out there as you'd think..." Shego felt the blush that was on his face and looked up to see him looking away from her in embarrassment, and was about to tease him about it when he continued, "But Shego, what's there not to love about you? You're kind, loyal and sexy. I know guys who'd settle for less, but you're all that and a lot more. Don't be so hard on _yourself_, 'kay? It's just all Drakken's fault for not realizing that about you sooner."

"Thanks... You're too sweet," Shego smiled and paused for a moment before continuing her thoughts. "But I can't help but feel... What have I been doing these past three years? If I died, would anyone have cared? Would anyone come to my funeral? I mean, what if I had really died, and Drakken had cloned me and... Would you have noticed? Would anyone have noticed? Would anyone have cared?"

"Hey, look on the bright side," Ron pointed out. "You got out of the business before something like that could have happened."

"Yeah..." Shego replied with a smile as she tilted her head and rested it on Ron's shoulder. "Hey Ron... If I died... You'd come to my funeral, right?"

"Shego... That's... What's that school word for it again?" Ron looked down at the top of her head, his face scrunched up in concentration. "Morbid... Yeah..."

"Maybe," she whispered nonchalantly. "But I'll be counting on you... I want someone who actually cares about me, and knows me to be there... Right at the end..."

"What if I die first?" Ron asked.

"Then you'll you'd be the first one to greet me in the afterlife..." Shego replied.

"Err... Shego..." Ron asked. "Do we even go to the same afterlife? I'm Jewish..."

"And I'm a lapsed Catholic," Shego shrugged. She slipped her hand into his and clasped his fingers. "Hey Ron..." she began after a moment, enjoying the warmth of his body pressed against hers. "We still haven't finished our dance yet, you know..."

"I'll make it up to you someday," Ron replied without bating his breath.

"Promise?"

"Yup," Ron nodded. "Promise."

"Good," she muttered quietly to herself, as she sat next to him. She didn't know when he'd put his arm around her shoulders, but it felt like it had always been there. Snuggling a little closer, she felt a lot better than when she woke up this morning.

Suddenly, the blanket was pulled roughly off the both of them, and the sudden bright daylight hit Shego's eyes hard.

"Hey!" Shego blinked rapidly, as she sat up in surprise. "What's going... Oh... Kim... Hey..." She gulped as she watched the red-head look sternly at her. "Hey... This isn't what it looks like... I just... Ron just... He..."

"Heya KP," Ron grinned in embarrassment. "We were just talking..."

"Uh huh..." Kim replied with her hands clasped behind her back, an innocent look on her face and a devilish glint in her eyes. "Now I understand how dad felt when he caught us under the sheets. So exactly were you two 'talking' about?"

"I... Err... Ron..." Shego gaped in surprise.

Watching Shego stammer futilely brought a wry grin to the red-head's face. "So this isn't the game where Ron and you hide under the blankets and whisper secrets to each other?"

"Err... Yeah... Yeah!" Shego nodded her head vigorously. "That's right... Uh huh..."

"Sure..." Kim replied with a good-natured grin. "I was wondering what's taking you two so long... Ron said he'd try to get you out of the house and meet me and Monique over at the mall."

"Oh, did he?" Shego raised her eyebrows as she gazed at the sheepish blond.

"I tried," Ron offered.

"So you up for it?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, hang on a minute," Shego got off her bed and to her feet. "I just need to change first..." she glanced at Ron and Kim, who were looking at each other and sharing a small giggle, a mischievous smirk of her own slipping over her face. "Unless... You wouldn't mind getting a free show, would you, Ronnie?" She winked lasciviously at the blushing blond.

"Ahem!" Kim cleared her throat loudly as she yanked her dumbstruck boyfriend so hard off the bed that he landed on his behind with a loud bump. "No thank you, Shego," Kim announced loudly as she dragged him out of the guestroom, making extra sure to shut the door behind her.

Shego let out a light laugh as she watched them go. She disrobed as she walked towards her closet, wondered what clothes to wear. She felt the warmth of the sun bathe her bare back and turned back to look out the window at the beautiful day outside, feeling that maybe her life wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

"So it was all a case of mistaken identity, and you were framed by your own clone, who is in love with Dr. Drakken and currently carrying his love child?" Monique queried, as the four of them sat at the food court in the mall enjoying a bite to eat.

Shego looked rather ill, as she placed the half-eaten cupcake back on the tray. "Love child?"

"Well, you said they were sleeping together," Monique explained excitedly. "So I simply assumed that there will be a love child..."

"Please..." Shego held up her hand. "I'm trying my best not to lose my lunch here, Muffin."

"Wow..." Monique shook her head. "Girl... This is like a whacked episode of Agony County. Evil twin sister who is actually your clone tries to kill Ron over there and is making out with your boss."

"So _not_ the drama, Mon," Kim interjected, as she sipped her soda. "Bottom line is, Sheila's innocent, and she's coming back to class on Monday."

"Da-yamn..." Monique grumbled. "I was hoping for a free period."

"Hey... Do you want your gym teacher and shopping buddy to sit in prison this weekend?" Shego warned the bubbly teenager. "Look who just found you that shirt that was 'to die for'." Shego held up her fingers in air-quotes.

"Girl, air quotes is so last season," Monique rolled her eyes. "It's now the finger-snap. Like so..." Monique demonstrated by snapping her fingers twice.

"Only if you got the attitude for it," Shego ribbed.

"I so got the 'tude for the finger-snap!" Monique shot back. "Kim, girl, BFF Kim! Do tell her who's got the 'tude for the finger-snap!"

"You know what, Monique?" Kim smiled. "I'm not really sure if I'm your BFF... I thought your BFF was Sheila..."

"Hey now," Monique protested. "That's a while ago... Girl, you can't be holding that over my head."

"Uh huh," Kim nodded as she peeked under the table. "Gosh, Monique... Wherever did you get those shoes? Oh wait... Didn't I _pay _for those?"

"Err... Kim..." Monique grinned as she tucked her feet under her seat. "What's a couple of bucks between friends? I mean, hey, Sheila was feeling generous and they were on sale! It was a steal at that price!"

Kim snorted as Shego broke out in a laugh. "Yeah, from me!" the red-head replied sarcastically, before all of them started laughing out loud.

"So, Ron," Monique continued as she turned her attention to the blond who was stacking ketchup packets. "From the 'mission report'," she inclined her head towards a reddening Kim. "You copped a feel of the enemy. Do you deny or affirm this allegation?"

Ron paled instantly as three pairs of beautiful female eyes drilled into him. He felt himself wilting under the gaze. "Err..." Ron gulped. "What KP said, I guess..."

"Uh huh, interesting," Monique had this grin on her face as she nodded. "So the question is... Does it feel as good as the original?"

"Monique!" Shego and Kim yelled her name loudly enough for patrons at nearby tables to turn their attention towards the commotion.

In his panic, Ron did one of those things that didn't quite make sense for anyone to do: he tried to stand up, but at the same time jump out of his seat in embarrassment, while trying to crawl under the table, away from the scrutinizing look of the curious. In reality however, all he managed to do was twist his body as he tried to scramble out of his seat, and bang his knees on the bottom of his table such that the impact upturned his girlfriend's drink all over her lap.

"Oh god," Ron muttered in embarrassment. "Ah, sorry KP," he pled as he grabbed a handful of napkins and tried to clear up the mess he made. "Ah... Sorry... Sorry..." he continued, mumbling apologies profusely.

"Hold on, Ron," Kim threw a dirty look at Monique, who was trying to stifle her giggles. "I really need to change out of this... Ron, go grab my mission clothes in my car... I need to go and dry off..." She got up and walked towards the restrooms.

"Right, KP," he nodded his head and took her car keys, speeding off to the parking lot. "Right away."

After watching Kim walk out of earshot, Monique immediately turned her attention to Shego. "Hey, I know you might not want to say anything, but are you in love with Ron?"

"What?" Shego looked at the young teenager in surprise. "Hell no... I'm his teacher..."

"You know what they say, denial is not just a river in Egypt..." Monique replied with a knowing wink. "It's just that you have this look on your face every time you look at him when you think that no one else is watching."

"What sort of look?" Shego tried to avoid a direct answer.

"The same sort of look that Ron had when Kim was dating Eric" Monique said flatly, ignoring Shego's wince at the mention of the synthodrone. "The look that says you want him, but you can't have him," Monique replied slowly. "You really love him, don't you?"

Shego raised a curious eyebrow as she remained silent, uncertain about how to answer now that Monique was being serious and had no hint of her normal text message influenced speech or gregarious attitude.

"It's okay..." Monique reassured her gently. "I'm not going to tell anyone... I'm just curious why..."

Shego bit her lower lip before she began softly. "Ever had a guy come into your life and show you how to trust someone again? Ever had a guy promise you that he'll make it all better, and then make those promises come true? Ever had a guy really care about you, care about you enough for you to be really you, and ask for nothing back?"

"That's Ron for you," Monique nodded in agreement. "It's just that, I have some thoughts... As your friend, I wonder do you really love Ron? Or is it just something you got caught up with?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Shego took a sip of her drink, without looking at Monique.

"I mean, do you love Ron, as in want to be his girlfriend, wife and lifetime partner? Do you want him to be the father of your child?" Monique raised a questioning eyebrow. "Or are you just grateful for all that he has done for you? Like how he helped you, listened to your problems and everything."

"What kind of question is that?" Shego replied evasively.

"I'm trying to help you out here," Monique offered. "Know where you stand."

"This is for Kim, isn't it?" Shego eyed the girl suspiciously.

"Sheila, Sheila," Monique shook her head with a slight smile. "I'm a free agent here. Kim doesn't know about this conversation, and I think she's learning to handle the whole 'My-gym-teacher-is-in-love-with-my-boyfriend' situation by pretending it doesn't exist**. **Your feelings for Ron are like the proverbial elephant in the room during a cocktail party."

"It's not that obvious," Shego riposted hotly.

"Only slightly less obvious than a giggly schoolgirl crush," Monique smiled with a glint in her eye. "Give me some credit here okay? I know who's crushing on who even before they know it themselves. People start acting different, they try their best to look everywhere but at the person, look off dreamily at..."

"Okay..." Shego halted the girl in mid-sentence. "I get it."

"So?" Monique tilted her head expectantly.

"What?" Shego took a long sip of her drink.

"You and Ron? Just a crush?" Monique asked. "Or the real thing?"

Shego let out a sigh. "I don't even know how to answer that."

"Okay, fair enough," Monique shrugged. "But say that it wasn't Ron who helped you. What if it was someone else? Like maybe it was Josh Mankey instead... Or Richie Gurland... Or maybe even Kim... Would you fall in love with them if they did the same thing Ron did?"

"I really don't know..." Shego replied uneasily. "I don't even really know those guys, and, well..." she sighed heavily before shaking her head, not seeing the sharply raised eyebrow Monique leveled at her. "Look, Muffin, Ron's... Different, I guess... I sort of knew Ron as a friend first before anything else... And he just grew on me... And I do want him in my life because... Like today, he came and cheered me up. He got me to open up when I didn't want to talk to anyone, and he reminded me things that I had forgotten. He's done so much for me..."

"So you're just grateful?"

"No... I mean, yes... That's part of it," Shego struggled to find her words. "I'm just... Confused, I guess."

"How do you feel about Ron and Kim together?"

Shego's eyes narrowed a little. "Muffin, you do realize that this conversation is meant to be confidential, right? I know people who really know how to hurt people, in ways that keep them alive and conscious enough to feel every single agonizing moment."

"My lips..." Monique made a zipping gesture across her mouth. "I may run the school's rumor mill, but at least I have ethics... Nothing you don't want me to say will be repeated for other ears."

Shego gave Monique a look, before sighing. "Guess I don't have a choice. Kim's... Kim's a nice person, once she gets past the green-eyed monster stage..."

"Tell me about it..." Monique rolled her eyes. "Girl, I got stories for you..."

A smile curled on Shego's lips. "Tell me about it."

"Not right now, Sheila," Monique shook her head. "C'mon... About Ron and Kim... Tell me. I asked first."

"Fine..." Shego glanced around to see if a red-head would bound around the corner any minute. "I like Kim a lot, she... She really, _really_ reminds me of someone I knew a long time ago... But there are times, you know, when I just want to pick her up, toss her out the car door and drive off into the setting sun with Ron... You know what I mean?"

"Perfectly," Monique nodded her head with a smile.

"But that's the problem..." Shego sat back and stared at some far off point. "I can't do it... I know Ron would jump out of the car after her... I don't stand a chance against Kim... And I'd just end up hurting everyone. It's... Hopeless... And just knowing that hurts..."

"Well, I guess it's more than just gratitude..." Shego looked sharply at the dark-skinned woman, who looked back with a knowing smirk. "I think you gotta let them know what you're thinking," Monique replied firmly.

"You want Kim to put me in a hospital this time so that I'll take you on another, bigger shopping spree?" Shego eyed the teen.

"That'd be fun," Monique grinned. "But rather than let this just hang out there... Who knows what might happen? Either way, you can't go on like this. You got to resolve your feelings... Sit them both down and let them both know. I'm willing to bet that at least Kim won't go postal on you. In the very least you might find closure."

Shego sighed. "Maybe you're right."

"You know I can't root for you, right?" Monique said. "I've been hoping that those two would get together since I met them."

Shego just nodded.

"But..." Monique smiled as she placed a hand on Shego's shoulder. "They're still your friends. They care for you very much. We all do. So if you ever need to talk... About Ron... Or Kim... Or Ron and Kim... Or anything at all, I'm here for you, okay?"

"Thanks..." Shego nodded her head.

"No prob," Monique replied. "Kim's back, head's up."

"Hey, Sheila," Kim had a serious look on her face. "We just got a call from Wade. Drakken and Sheegsy are making their move. We better go."

"Good," Shego said with a grim look on her face. "Just the people I wanted to see. Sorry, Muffin, gotta run."

"I'm used to it by now," Monique coolly replied. "Go get them."

"I will..." Shego grinned, as she waved goodbye. "I definitely will." She turned purposefully towards the door when she realized something very odd about her conversation with Monique. She turned and gave Monique a considering look before shaking her head and muttering, "So _that's_ how you do it..." She turned back and strode towards the door.

* * *

As the number of agents at the Global Justice headquarters was reduced to that of a bare skeleton crew due to the Drakken alert, Agent Kessler glanced up from a random agent's computer terminal. Breathing a sigh of relief as the janitor passed harmlessly by, he pulled the flash memory device from the computer's USB port, then proceeded to tap away as he edited the internal logs of the computer. After making sure there wasn't an electronic trace of his presence, he got up and grabbed a brown manila envelope and slipped the disk into it. He carefully scrawled a name and address in large print on the front, careful to keep the writing as far from his normal flowing penmanship as possible.

He quickly slipped out of the office, and as he walked past the receptionist, he nodded towards her, grunting a quick goodbye before pushing his way past the double doors into the street. Traversing to the 

open car park across the street, he pulled out a cell phone from his coat pocket and opened up his call history, before pressing 'Send'.

After two rings, someone picked up the phone on the other side. "Yeah?" the gruff voice asked curtly.

"Grant? There's been an interesting development," he spoke softly into the phone, as he stepped up to his car. "Lipsky's on the move again."

"So?" the voice was uninterested. "He is of no consequence. He failed us..."

"No..." Agent Kessler replied. "Apparently his latest project is of some interest to us."

"I'm sure death rays and weather machines are of use to us," Grant replied, his gritted teeth obvious even over the phone. "Stop wasting..."

"He created a clone," The smile on Agent Kessler's face was evident in his voice.

"I'm not interested in those zombies he created..."

"From the field reports," Agent Kessler interrupted smoothly, "I believe this one is not just genetically similar to the original, but a _full_ genetic match. The clone also displays all signs of coherent thoughts as well as similar, if not identical, skills and prowess displayed by the original," Agent Kessler triumphantly reported.

"I want a copy of those reports on my desk ASAP."

"I'm mailing it to you right now."

"Good." The voice fell silent for a moment before speaking, "Tell me, who is the original?"

"Shego, sir," Agent Kessler replied with a grin. "The clone is reported to be every little bit as effective as the original. Personality-wise, it's not an exact match... There were little aberrations. Shego _did_ have psychological issues, after all... But the fact of the matter is this: I think Lipsky finally finished it..."

"So it would seem..." Grant spoke. "Bring her in."

"Global Justice is doing that at the moment," the smile in his voice was clear. "We're getting the original to bring her in."

The voice chuckled. "The irony... The clone might prove more useful to us than original after all. Good work, Kessler, good work indeed… I'm in a meeting right now, but I think it's time we move up our plans. Give Anthropy a call and tell her it's time to extend a hand of mutual cooperation to our old friend."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I sort of gave a nod to Ron's and Kim's relationship in So The Drama in that one moment, where Shego was wondering whether she'd ever find love, and Ron said "Out there…" without the final crucial two words. I guess it's sort of like Shego's defining moment, a new crisis of identity that Kim sort of faced when she was in STD. I know I risk a lot of angry, hostile retorts by tossing out my thoughts here, but I think that was a defining moment, when Kim could either continue to date jerks like Eric or she could open her eyes to the homegrown boy by her side.

And I kinda think it's the same here, maybe… In a way… Maybe… I guess what Ron's trying to say here is to show Shego that she is worth something. Kinda like how Kim's overzealousness and poor taste in guys has resulted in her crashing and burning, I guess it's like Shego's confusion about the meaning of her existence sort of getting to her, and challenging her self-worth... This is what Ron does, reminding the both of them that someone out there cares for them, and perhaps not so out there as they would think. But I'd give Ron enough props to know when to stop talking, before Kim shows him how pissed off she could be.

Monique displays some deadly skill sets here; well deadly in a high school setting, at least. She can smell gossip a mile away, plus has enough empathy to coax the minutest detail out of even someone as emotionally constipated as Shego. And yes, I kinda think Shego's a little emotionally constipated. But I think here Monique's becoming a better friend, which is kinda what I think she would need especially in sorting out how she feel about Ron.


	10. Chapter 10

The peace and quiet in the usually uninhabited timeshare lair was shattered by loud shouting, and the occasional smashing of some precious and fragile invention being flung against the wall by a green-skinned, raven-haired clone. "Calm down, Sheegsy... Please ca-..." Drakken attempted to placate his sidekick and lover futilely, ducking as a gyroscopic inertial inducer hurtling towards his face.

"Calm down?" the woman screeched as she brought her full wrath to bear at him. Her fist instantly came down hard on a photonic emission generator; pieces of plastic and metal flew in all directions. "It's your fault and you want me to _calm down_?!"

Drakken whimpered slightly at the ominous tone she spoke with. "Sheegsy..." he whined.

"You said she was dead!" She stabbed her finger furiously at him. "Dead!"

"That was a small oversight on my part. You know my genius can't acc-..." His words were abruptly cut short as an electromagnetic flux inhibitor was flung against the wall just missing his face by inches, bursting in a cascade of sparks and smoke.

"_Oversight_?"

Drakken gulped as he attempted to inch closer towards the exit. His wise course of action was immediately halted by the gravitometric neutron displacer exploding at his feet. "Sheegsy... Why does it matter? She doesn't change anything between us..."

"Doesn't it?" Sheegsy grinded her teeth as she raised the tectonic plate attractor over her head. "You're telling me that her being alive doesn't change anything? She's the fucking _reason_ you cloned me in the first place! Because she was dead!" She slammed the invention down hard over her thigh, breaking it cleanly into two before tossing both pieces aside. After a frustrated, huffy sigh, she strode purposefully towards the blue-tinged man.

"But... But..." Drakken whimpered as he stared wide-eyed at the beautiful death bearing down upon him. "I really thought she was dead..."

"So now that she's _alive_..." Sheegsy pressed her nose inches away from the quivering man. "What are you going to _do_ about it?"

"Do?" Drakken gulped, feeling her hot breath washing down over his face, as those cute nostrils flared, with those pouting luscious black lips. He glanced up at her, feeling weak in the knees. "Do I have to do something about it?"

"Oh yes you do..." Sheegsy growled as she delivered her ultimatum. "You are going to have to kill her. Or else..."

"Or else what?" Drakken wasn't sure whether he'd like to know.

Grinning maliciously, she raised her right hand, and cracked her knuckles as she clenched her fist. "Or else," she leaned in to whisper into his ear. "I'm going to remove the only thing that defines you as a man, and then I'm going to make you my _bitch_! You are going to regret you've ever _fucked_ with me!" 

With that, she mashed her lips roughly against his, before biting down hard on his lower lip. Hard enough to draw blood.

Drakken immediately recoiled from the pain as his mind numbly tried to process the threat. His knees buckled as his entire body crumbled to the floor. Feeling dizzy with the loss of blood to his head, his mouth could only open and close as a goddess of death incarnate loomed over his huddling figure.

"Do you get me?" That evil grin betrayed the fury behind her stunning visage.

"Eep!" Drakken could only manage to squeak out.

"Good." She strode away to her chair and sat back in it, kicking back and resting her feet on the table. Reaching into her hip pouch, she drew out a nail file and started filing away viciously at her claws.

"Ahem..." Drakken began softly. When she gave no sign of any acknowledgement, he coughed twice and repeated again, "Ahem!"

She immediately cocked her head up and glared at the man, willing him to wilt before her baleful glare.

Bravely unperturbed, or perhaps just plain foolish because Sheegsy was his first girlfriend at the tender young age of forty five, the blue-skinned man stood up and drew himself to his full six feet of height. In an obvious attempt to salvage what was left of his manhood and dignity, he took a deep breath and haughtily declared, "I don't see why I should listen to you... After all, Sheegsy, I'm the boss and you're the hired help."

A lesser mortal would have alarm bells ringing in his head as she stopped filing her nails and gripped the sharp and dangerous nail file tightly in her hand. A large vein had started to bulge on her forehead and pulse dangerously.

"I do whatever I want," he continued, oblivious to the imminent danger his life was in. "I don't need to kill Shego. She's nothing but a nuisance to my plans. I was sure I had that insufferable Kim Possible and her buffoon trapped this time until Shego showed up... Though I'm curious why she's with Team Possible... Could it be that their insufferable tech-geek have finally invented a mind-control device that far surpasses mine?" He pondered for a moment, nodding to himself as he continued his rant, "That would explain completely why she is on their side. They must have found her amidst my destroyed lair, then rebuilt her, then brainwashed her... Hmm... If I could get my hands on Shego, and bring her back over and study her... _Then_ I would learn the secrets of... Hey, Sheegsy! I got a new plan! Bring me... Sheegsy? Where'd you go?"

Drakken glanced around the timeshare lair looking puzzled. The eight-hundred square foot lair meant that there were few places to hide, and he couldn't see any sign of his beloved. "Sheegsy... Where are you?" he called out, as he glanced around the stacked boxes. "Sheegsy?" He finally poked his head outside the lair and saw her leaning against the wall, looking up at the night sky. "Sheegsy... There you are... What are you doing out here? Oh never mind. I just had an idea...

"Yeah, I heard," she replied sounding downcast. "Bring Shego back... Blah blah... Mind control... Blah blah... Take over the world... Blah blah... You know what? Just shut the fuck up."

"Hurtful words, Sheegsy..." Drakken winced. "Sticks and stones..."

"Why do you want her back anyway?"

"Why, with the two of you on my side, no one can stop us!" Drakken proceeded to switch to evil world conqueror gloating-mode. His gloating was cut short by the sound of a plasma-lit fist crushing a hole into the concrete wall.

"You just don't fucking _get_ it, do you?"

"Huh?" Drakken didn't like the sound of that.

"What happens to _me_ after she comes back?" Sheegsy turned to face Drakken angrily. "Am I just going to be another one of your experiments, thrown aside and stashed away in this timeshare lair or another? Am I going to be replaced, and set aside just in case of emergencies? If she's going to be your sidekick, then who am I to you?" She turned away, as she quietly whispered to no one. "What am I?"

"Why, you'll still be Sheegsy..." Drakken started before he was quickly interrupted.

"But you wouldn't need me anymore..." Sheegsy growled spitefully. "You got her back."

"But I do need you..." Drakken pleaded. "You're not just my sidekick, you're my... My... My love..."

"Prove it," she tried to hide her small smile in the shadows at the sound of his words. "If you love me, if you need me, _then_ you don't need her. Show me that you don't need her: kill her!"

"Killing is a bit harsh and unnecessary, isn't it?" Drakken shuffled uncomfortably in his shoes. "I never tried to kill anyone. I don't even think I _could_..."

"I knew it," she whispered quietly as she turned to walk away. She didn't care where, just anywhere far away.

"Hey, Sheegsy, wait..." Drakken's hand shot out as he attempted to restrain her shoulder.

"Let go of me," Sheegsy warned, as she felt an insuppressible urge to rip those fingers off her shoulders and feed them to mutant sharks.

"Sheegsy, I order you to tell me what is wrong!" Drakken raised his voice haughtily.

"You order me?" Sheegsy gritted her teeth angrily. "Just let go of me! I don't fucking need you! I don't know why I even bother putting up with you in the first place!"

"You? Put up with me?" Drakken sounded genuinely surprised, as he retorted. "You're the one in a hissy fit here without telling me what's the matter, and you're saying you have to put up with me? Look who is acting all irrational and crazy here!"

"Why you..." Sheegsy raised her voice angrily.

"Tsk tsk..." someone clicked her tongue from the roof above the timeshare lair. "Having a little lovers' spat, aren't we?"

The quarreling couple turned their heads immediately to face the sound of the voice. As the speaker stepped forward from the shadows, the pale orange streetlight illuminated a pair of tight fitting black pants and maroon top and finally a cute face framed by fiery mane of red hair. She was flanked by a scruffy looking blond sporting a red hockey jersey and baggy cargoes and a royally pissed, mint-hued woman in a black and green jumpsuit.

"Kim Possible!" Drakken snarled immediately. "And her... Her... Sidekick whose name eludes me at the moment. And Shego..." His eyes narrowed to see his former sidekick standing too amiably close to his arch nemesis.

"Dr. D..." her former employee shouted down at him, her hands flaring up with green plasma. "Glad to see you still _remember_ me!"

"Shego!" Drakken yelled back. "Capture Kim Possible and I might just forgive you for your treachery!"

"Forgive me?" Shego screeched in anger, shaking a glowing fist at the mad scientist. "You've still got some explaining to do!" With that, she leaped down off the roof, and sprinted towards the startled man.

Just as she closed in on him, a similarly featured person clad in a similarly fashioned green and black jumpsuit interposed herself in between Shego and her target. Her doppelganger, Sheegsy, stood her ground, plasma flared and claws outstretched in a similar pose, ready to fight with the same grimace etched on her face.

"Guess you trained your new pet well, Dr. D. Got to give you at least that much!" Shego spat nastily at the man cowering behind her clone.

"Eyes here, bitch," Sheegsy growled. "I'm so going to kill you."

"Oh please, you are nothing but a lab experiment gone wrong," Shego scoffed.

With a feral roar, Sheegsy leaped for Shego's throat with her claws outstretched. Just as Shego tensed up to swing her fists at her clone, a red blur streaked by and slammed into her assailant from the side. Kim craned her neck as she pinned the struggling clone to the ground, and barked at Shego, "Get Drakken! Ron and I can handle Sheegsy!"

"With pleasure," Shego replied emotionlessly as she stalked purposefully towards the gaping mad scientist.

"Now, now, Shego..." Drakken attempted to placate her, as he whipped out a handkerchief to dab the beads of sweat rolling down his brow. "You know... Violence is never the answer."

"Sure it isn't," Shego replied coldly, as she stopped just at arms length of the man. Her hand shot out and grabbed his collar, wrenching it harshly enough that her victim lost his balance, held up only by her superhuman strength. "But it will definitely make me feel a lot better."

"Please... Please, Shego..." Drakken started to whimper as the collar pulled tightly against his neck. "You don't understand... I thought you were dead."

"That's no excuse..." her tone remained cold and emotionless. "No excuse at all..."

"Look here, Shego... It was... You know... It was hard for me as well!" Drakken pleaded as his thoughts frantically spilled out. "I didn't even know if you were alive! How would I know where to look for you?"

"I was at the _fucking_ hospital!" Shego yelled at his face, giving him a rough shake. "Did it even occur to you to _look_ for me there?"

"Hospital?" Drakken gulped as he let out a nervous chuckle at his obvious oversight. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Shego shook the frightened man harder. "Did you even try looking for me?"

"Shego... I wasn't thinking straight, okay?" Drakken admitted. "For all my mad genius, when the lair collapsed and I found out that you didn't get out in time... I panicked..."

"Oh yeah? How long did it take you to make up your mind to clone me? To create that _thing!_" Shego pointed a finger at Sheegsy who was busily preoccupied trying to fend off Kim's strikes.

"Err... Two days?" Drakken gulped. As an afterthought, he added, "Do I get brownie points for honesty?"

"Dr. D... I'm so mad at you, right now I could just..."

"Wait... Wait..." Drakken waved his hand in her face. "You have to listen to me... Please don't kill me... Cloning you wasn't an easy choice for me to make, okay?"

"Go on..." Shego muttered, her face displaying her impatience clearly.

"The day after the lair collapsed, I spent the whole day waiting for you to show up," Drakken explained quickly. "You know, like you always do. Come back safe and sound, no worse for wear. But you didn't. That's when I got really worried and went out to search for you. But GJ was having this major operation at the collapsed lair..."

"Okay, fine, I give you that," Shego growled. "Still doesn't explain why you cloned me."

"You were gone!" Drakken desperately repeated. "You were gone! And I needed a sidekick... All my plans had you somehow involved. You know, Shego, I always pictured myself taking over the world, and when I do take over the world, it'll be you at my side..."

"Gee, doc..." Shego yelled sarcastically. "If you wanted me by your side, why do you have that prancing half-witted slut of a bimbo helping you now? Why'd you have to clone me? Do you know how wrong that is on so many levels? So next time if a lair collapsed on her, you're just going to make another copy of her, right? Replace us one after the other like some cheap hooker for hire?"

"No, Shego... That's not how it is... I cloned you because I couldn't live without you..." Drakken spoke softly.

"What?" Shego felt her grip slacken on his collar a little. Trying to regain her composure, she redoubled her grip, her tone harsh and commanding, "Explain yourself!"

"Shego..." Drakken gulped, as he tried to swallow his nervousness. "I love you."

"You what?" Shego's jaw fell open. She refused to believe what her ears registered barely a moment ago. "Did you just say..."

"It's true, Shego," Drakken raised his voice, as he broke into a tirade. "I love... _Loved_ you. I always have before the collapse! Or haven't you noticed? Were you too blind? Why else do you think I kept you around? I loved everything about you! The way your hair smelled after you showered, the way you pretended not to smile when I told a really bad joke, and the way you filed your nails while you listened to me talk about my latest plans for world conquest!"

Shego felt a renewed sense of nausea rising from her gut, as she stared right into Drakken's eyes. She felt sure that he was lying, that he was just trying to talk his way out of this before he'd spring his unwieldy trap or half-baked plan. "You're lying." She declared tonelessly.

"No!" Someone screamed from Shego's left, and she whirled around to see her doppelganger clenching her fists tightly at her sides. Sheegsy had her head bowed low, gritting her teeth hard enough that everyone heard the enamel grinding.

Even Kim and Ron were so taken aback by the loud outburst from Sheegsy that they stopped mid-step. The red-head didn't quite know what to do; take advantage of this perfect opening to take the doppelganger down, or wrap her arms around the pitiful-looking woman that resembled her friend and lend her a shoulder to cry on.

"Drakken!" Sheegsy yelled at the top of her lungs, lifting her head to glare daggers through bloodshot, tearful eyes. "Fuck you!" she roared, spinning on her heels, making a move towards the shadows lining the street outside the lair, not caring where she was headed.

"No! Wait! Sheegsy, listen to me!" Drakken yelled out after the fleeing woman. He struggled, trying to pry himself loose from Shego's grip on his collar and chase after his lover.

Ron, who was closer to the pale clone, made a move to grab her, but she grabbed his arm, using her strength and momentum to throw him halfway back to where Drakken and Shego were. With a strangled groan as he landed, he looked at Sheegsy's retreating back and then over at Kim. "KP!" Ron's yell startled the stunned red-headed teen heroine. "We can't let her get away!"

Breaking out of her stupor, Kim immediately chased after the fleeing woman. She thought that Sheegsy would head directly for the hover jet to escape. But this time, some inner voice told Kim that something was wrong with the picture; her strides were too erratic, her movements too excessive, and she wasn't trying to rescue Drakken at all. Her mind wandered back to Drakken's surprise love confession.

It was one thing to acknowledge her parents as sexual beings capable of love; but to watch an egomaniacal megalomaniac that was not only as old as her father, but also an apparent sexual neophyte, confess his amorous feelings to a woman almost half his age was an entirely different matter. 

On top of that, he was already in a sexual relationship with said ex-international criminal's clone, which only served to convolute the situation to an extent that even a soap opera writer could not discern. "This is wrongsick," she muttered to herself, as she tried to catch up with Sheegsy.

As Kim gained ground on the older woman, she pumped the last spurt of speed she had into a reckless headfirst lunge at the woman's back. Feeling the jarring impact of her shoulder striking the woman, Kim instinctively wrapped her arms around her target's waist and brought Sheegsy down in a spectacular tackle onto the gritty concrete floor. Kim winced in pain as she suffered a few new scrapes and bruises, but scrambled quickly to her feet, drawing older woman's arm behind her back as she did so. She pressed her left knee down on Sheegsy's neck, and after swallowing a few deep lungfulls of air, she yelled out, "Ron! Call GJ! We got them!" She made sure to keep her attention on the woman below her, wary of any surprises she might have.

"Let me go!" Sheegsy yelled out between gasps of breath with her face pressed against the gravel. She writhed and twisted her body to dislodge the red-head who was on top of her. "Let me go or you are going to regret this!"

"You know..." Kim replied smoothly, as she applied a little more pressure on the back of Sheegsy's neck to make sure she felt it. "You always say that, but I always win. Oh, wait, that was Shego. At least she knew how to put up more of a fight."

The insult only served to fuel the woman's rage as she bellowed loudly and bucked viciously to throw Kim off-balance. Sheegsy was partially successful, and despite the pain in her right arm, she used the slight lessening of pressure to twist her body halfway under the red-head and grab a fistful of Kim's hair with her free left hand.

"Resorting to catfight tactics?" Kim asked snidely as she moved to put pressure back on the green hued thief's arm, while simultaneously trying to dislodge the fist from her hair.

"Shut up, Princess! You think you know her, you think she's on your side... But _no_..." Sheegsy growled angrily at the red head. "Take it from someone who actually _has_ Shego's memories in her head! If Shego had ever been the least bit serious in your fights, you'd have gone home crying your pretty eyes out!" she let a dark smile grace her features as she looked up at the woman that had brought Shego back into her and Drakken's life, "And if _I_ ever have the chance, you'd be lying in some ditch, bloodied, broken and _raped_!"

Kim grinded her teeth at the last insult, which had hit far too close for comfort. "Bitch, I'm here right now so why don't you _bring it_? All I see you do is yap and yap. At least Shego knew when to _shut up_!"

"Stop comparing me with her!" Sheegsy screamed, using Kim's hair as a tether to yank the red-head down. Kim, expecting a punch, let Sheegsy's arms go, slamming one hand down on the floor to support herself and using the other to block an incoming strike. She almost realized her mistake too late when the thief's hand flared up from within the clump of hair.

"Shit!" Kim exclaimed, flinching back instinctively and barely avoiding the plasma blast that would have taken out half of her face. The plasma burst did flash ignite a large clump of her red hair. As the smell of burning hair assailed her nostrils, she felt herself flung through the air by a vicious concussive blast to her gut. The wind was almost knocked out of her when she struck the wall.

"You're gonna pay for screwing with me, Princess!" Sheegsy roared as she quickly moved in, a flaming hand angling towards Kim's gut while the red-head was busy swatting the flames out of her hair.

Kim glanced up just in time as she finished dousing her hair and easily sidestepped Sheegsy's clumsy attack, countering with swift jab into Sheegsy's side, just below the ribs. Seeing her opponent reflexively wince and jerk her arm downward to cover her side, Kim took advantage of the opportunity presented and felt the sickening pop as her elbow connected with Sheegsy's lower jaw, dislocating it slightly. "Pft," Kim mocked as she dropped back away from Sheegsy. "Shego would never fall for that."

Falling to her knees, Sheegsy winced in pain and raised her hand under her jaw, groaning as she forced it back into place. "Shut up!" Sheegsy grated in anger, blinking her eyes hard to clear the tears. "Tell me, Princess. How did you get Shego to join your side? Lie on your back and spread your legs? You must have given her what she wanted... You should see some of these fantasies that Shego's had about you... I wonder how many of them you had to fulfill to get her on your side..."

"What?" Kim gaped in surprise at the older woman, before Sheegsy lashed her leg out and tripped the redhead. Kim quickly rolled away as a black heeled boot came crashing down where her face had been. She turned the roll into an ungainly, off-balance recovery to her feet, catching sight of the green fist coming at her as a spinning backhand struck her square on the mouth. She leaped back to put some space between them and get a quick breather, thinking frantically of an attack she could throw at the woman.

Smelling weakness, Sheegsy grinned as she pressed on, "At least I agree with Shego on one thing, you're a dyke if I ever saw one."

"Am not!" Kim hollered back loudly.

"A dyke in denial!" Sheegsy shot back. "Face it, you're such a dyke that you only fall for girlie men... Girlie men who wear the panties and apron around the house... I bet you Stoppable's your little bitch until you realize you like girls more than you want to believe and that's wh-..."

"That's not it!" Kim yelled back. "Ron's more of a man than you think; he's a great guy and I love him! That's way more than I could say about _your _guy... Hell, your guy is some old loser whose idea of a prom date is a robot!" Kim took a few instants to compose her thoughts as Sheegsy flinched at that last statement, before giving the doppelganger a smirk that even Shego would have been proud of. "You know what? You're a joke, you're such a miserable joke. He cloned you because he got _lonely_ and had an itch in his pants? That's just pathetic!"

Sheegsy reached down inside for a sharp retort, but amidst the churning emotions in her, she flinched at the words flung at her. "That's not true," she whispered to herself, clenching her fists in anger. "That's not true. That's not _true_!" Her last words came out as an incoherent shriek as she threw herself wildly at the red-head.

Dodging her wide strikes easily, Kim ducked and weaved into the reach of her opponent and executed a perfect uppercut that knocked the woman out cold. As she collapsed on the ground, the green flames around her hands flickered and died out. Standing over the unconscious figure, Kim nudged her gently 

with her foot to make sure she was truly out. Finally satisfied that the battle was won, she let her guard down as she crouched next to the unconscious woman to check for injuries.

Kim gazed at the dirtied, tear-streaked face that looked so familiar and alien at the same time. A day where they had caught the bad guys was always be a good day; but somehow that feeling of self-satisfaction was flagging, being replaced by a sense of overwhelming sadness mirrored on the unconscious woman's face. Kim could not bear to look any longer: this was the first time her opponent had looked so completely defeated.

* * *

"So this new Shego-clone is a creation of Dr. Drakken?" Dr. Director spoke slowly as she studied the file and mission report before her. The two teenage heroes had been brought back to office immediately after the capture of Drakken and Sheegsy for their debriefing. They were standing before her and had just finished detailing the finer points of the mission.

"Uh huh," Kim replied, as Ron nodded in agreement.

"So what else can you tell me about this Shego-clone?" Dr. Director asked. "How close does she resemble the original in terms of intelligence, personality and ability?"

"To be honest, Dr. Director," Kim shrugged her shoulders. "When I fought her, it was like fighting Sheila, yet not like fighting Sheila, if you get what I mean. She punches like Sheila, she kicks like Sheila, and she fights like Sheila... But I can't just place my finger on it. It's like someone studied Sheila's every move, and just mimics it without the fine tuning?" Kim gesturing her hands for emphasis as she sought to describe fighting Sheegsy, "It was... Like how someone going through the last parts of physical rehab isn't quite where they should be, but close?"

"What about her mind?" Dr. Director asked as she jotted down a few notes. "Personality-wise? Memories? Thought processes?"

"I think she might remember a lot of things Shego remembers..." Kim replied. "I'm not too sure, just that when we fought, she hinted that she knew Sheila very well... Like she was always in her head or something."

"But she's definitely a whole different person," Ron piped in. "She was playing kissy-face with Drakken, and that's something the real Shego wouldn't do."

"How do you know that?" Kim turned to look at her blond boyfriend with a probing eye.

"Err... She told me?" Ron replied sheepishly. "Remember how she was annoyed every time we asked why she stuck with Drakken for so long? We thought she had a thing for Drakken but we were wrong."

"Maybe," Kim crossed her arms. "Maybe a few other things? Sheegsy seemed a little more insecure than Sheila. I thought I'd try getting under her skin for a bit, and she blew up big time. She also... I dunno..."

Kim looked uncertain glancing at Ron for a long moment, before Dr. Director cleared her throat and asked impatiently, "She also...?"

Kim sighed and plowed ahead with her observation, her voice uncertain, "She also seemed more willing to hurt people? I mean, it seemed like she was really going to try to kill Ron the first time we fought her. And tonight she tried to blast my face off with her plasma, but she only got my hair..."

"I see," Dr. Director grunted with a slightly raised eyebrow, before making a note on her desktop computer.

Kim reached up reflexively to smooth her hair, much as she had been doing for nearly two months. She groaned self-consciously as she felt the burnt, twisted ends where her hair had been burnt off about halfway up its length. A blush lit her face at the realization of how she must look, but a comforting hand on her shoulder kept her from saying anything embarrassing. She looked left to see Ron smiling at her with his goofy grin, "It's ok, KP! At least it wasn't your face or worse, right?"

Dr. Director grunted in agreement before looking down at the report, writing a note as she asked her next question. "So how many more of these Shego-clones did Drakken create?" Dr. Director turned to her next question.

"I think only one," Kim thought out loud. "Apparently, Sheegsy also had this thing about wanting to be the only... Err... Copy alive. She wouldn't tolerate another clone."

"That's a bit of good news," Dr. Director remarked. "The last thing we need is a whole army of rogue superpowered Shego-clones running around. We had better destroy the entire experiment and process before someone else gets any funny ideas what to do with this technology. Especially since Drakken managed to find the solution to the problem of his clones being soluble in soda."

"Dr. Director, if I may," Kim began politely. "This puts Sheila completely in the clear, right? She's not in any trouble of any sort?"

"No... She's not in any trouble," Dr. Director nodded with a barely perceptible sigh. "She's free to do whatever she wants, provided she stays close to you two. I still want the two of you to keep an eye out on her and make sure she stays straight this time."

"Good," Kim heaved a sigh of relief. "But I think you were being grossly unfair to Sheila. The implant was completely unnecessary and you were playing with her life. I don't think she appreciated that one bit, and I think what you did was completely wrong."

"It was a precaution," Dr. Director replied stiffly. "A necessary precaution I should add, given the available information at the time, to protect the two of you."

"But Sheila felt betrayed just because of that," Kim pointed out. "You know, she's not committed any crimes since she lived with Ron. And Ron and I try to make her feel like she's someone normal and appreciated around here. If you treat her like a criminal, she..."

"I hardly need someone half my age to advise me on how I handle my subordinates," Dr. Director spoke coldly.

"That's the thing!" Kim grated out. "She's not your subordinate! She's your friend! At least she thought of you as a friend... And I thought you considered her one as well."

"I think we're done here," Dr. Director snapped, cutting the conversation off. "Where is Shego anyway? She should be here for this debriefing."

"I think she said something about paying Sheegsy a visit," Ron offered. "She's trying to understand this new thing that's happening to her."

"Then, as her friends, I suggest you two better join her," Dr. Director spoke dismissively.

"Right," Kim nodded her head. "Dr. Director... I'm sorry if I was rude. I owe Sheila a lot, and I wouldn't feel I did my part as a friend if I didn't speak up for her."

"Forget about it," Dr. Director spoke curtly as she waved the two teens out of her office. "I'm sure Shego will appreciate your sentiment. Maybe you can be a better friend to her than I ever was." She sat back in her chair as she watched the two young teens leave. She was starting to get annoyed by the way Kim stood up for Shego. She couldn't exactly figure out why she felt she had betrayed the green-hued thief. However, the nagging voice in her heart told her she knew exactly why.

Glancing at the 'Sheegsy' folder on her desk, she studied the mug shot carefully, comparing it to Shego's sitting next to it. The face looked hauntingly similar, and it reminded her of the first time when Shego's file came across her desk. Their physical stats were almost identical, at least according to preliminary examination. With a heavy heart, she averted her eyes and closed both files, stacking them haphazardly under other reports on her desk, before going to her other work for the day.

* * *

Shego found herself standing on the wrong side of her cell, if her experience with life was any indicator. She felt she was having a complete out of body experience while staring at her clone. The other woman kept casting murderous glances at her, as she sat on the prison bunk, and Shego had to hold back the sudden urge to snort in amusement. Rules and procedures for secure interrogation of high threat prisoners leapt to the forefront of her mind: stand at least five feet away from the reinforced glass wall and stand near the emergency lockdown button, always have another agent on close standby, and never think the person across the cell as a friend.

She sighed slightly in exasperation at that last point. It had struck too close to home with the last few days of her life. Although the person inside her cell looked like her, sounded like her and thought like her, Shego wasn't sure whether she should assume that she knew everything about her. They eyed each other carefully, sizing each other up and down, as though ready for a real fight.

"So are you gonna say something or just stand there with that stupid look on your face?" Sheegsy broke the silence with a sneering tone.

"I'm trying to figure out what you are," Shego spoke calmly with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why don't you tell me?" Sheegsy taunted. "I'm you! I'm every bit the same as you, same body, same mind, same soul..."

"Clones don't have souls," Shego replied.

"I'm _not_ a fucking _clone_! I'm just a fucking human being with your looks and your skills and your memories! So _don't_ tell me what I _do_ or _do not_ have!" Sheegsy screamed back, before taking a deep breath to regain her composure. "So what do you want from me?"

"Why?" Shego asked simply, ignoring her counterpart's rant.

"Why what?" Sheegsy saucily replied.

"Why Drakken?" Shego asked. "I don't get you. I don't get it. If you're the same as me, why Drakken?"

"Why do you want to know?" Sheegsy asked.

"Just tell me." Shego grated dangerously.

"Is it because you're bothered?" Sheegsy grinned maniacally. "Bothered that Dr. D is touching this body? Your body? Are you bothered that he got to touch these?" As an emphasis, Sheegsy ran her hands underneath her breasts and gave them a squeeze. "Bothered that it is your body that he's fantasizing about? And imagining how he runs his tongue across your nipples?" she grinned lecherously as Shego's mouth curled in disgust, enjoying the discomfort she knew Shego felt. "Or maybe you're wondering how he feels between your legs..."

"Enough!" Shego yelled. "Just what games are you playing?"

"Oh just the usual head games and smack talk that you do so well," Sheegsy smiled sweetly. "After all, I am you."

"Are you in love with Dr. D?" Shego demanded.

"Are you afraid that you might be in love with Dr. D?" Sheegsy immediately shot back.

"Just answer the god damned question!" Shego shouted. She'd never realized how infuriating it was to talk to herself, and the irony struck her that she might as well be yelling at a mirror.

"What's it to you?" Sheegsy asked spitefully, shuddering involuntarily at the thought. "Why are you even here? Look, you and I both know that we'd kill each other if we got the chance. So why don't you run along back to Dr. D and then maybe he'll give you a taste of what I've been getting all this time. After all, he's in love with you."

"Yeah, but unlike you, I'm not in love with him," Shego declared.

Sheegsy sat silently as she pondered her words. "Really?" she asked in earnest.

"Yeah. As long as we're getting that straight," Shego continued. "You better start spilling, why Drakken? Okay, forget about it, I don't care why you're in love with Drakken. I just want to know what's different between you and me?"

"You really want to know?" Sheegsy asked warily. "I guess there's no point fighting you after all... It'll just be like fighting myself. No, it's exactly like fighting myself." After a short pause, she tentatively asked, "So you really want to know what I see in him?"

"No, not really," Shego answered. "I just want to know why you're so head over heels for Drakken. Did he fiddle with your brain while creating you? Or how tamper with your hormones? Or maybe... Whatever..."

"Oh yes, I know that look," Sheegsy smiled to herself. "You know you better say it... Or else I won't tell... After all we both know what you're thinking..."

"Fine," Shego glared at her doppelganger with murderous intent as she uttered her words through gritted teeth. "Or maybe I had feelings for Dr. D once..."

"I'm not going to answer that question," Sheegsy smiled primly. "It's nice to see you getting all flustered second-guessing yourself."

"Screw you," Shego slammed her fist against the wall.

"Tsk, tsk..." Sheegsy wagged her finger mockingly. "Now that's just gross. You want to screw me? That's a lot like incest, only worse... Wow, you have changed quite a bit."

"Stop playing around and give me some answers already, goddammit!" Shego yelled. "Why do you like him?"

"That doesn't matter anymore," Sheegsy mumbled to herself.

"Why not?" Shego asked. "You two seem to be getting along pretty well."

"Forget it!" Sheegsy spat out. "There's nothing between us! Nothing, okay? Nothing, thanks to you. He's nothing!"

"What was all that about sleeping together? And all that kissing and touching?" Shego asked, not bothering to hide the impatience in her voice. "Aren't you in love with him?"

"You, Shego, of all people should know..." Sheegsy replied grimly. "I don't like to share... And after all, he _loves_ you. You, the person he loves, who betrayed him, and then ditched sides when it suited you. You don't even share his passion or his vision or his dreams for a better world! You, who's nothing more than an ordinary henchman!"

"For your information, I don't love him. Never have, and never will," Shego declared.

"Oh please, of all people you should know better than to lie to me," Sheegsy sneered with contempt. "After all, who knows you better than yourself? Or should I say... Me?"

"That was..." Shego stopped short for a moment. "It was a long time ago, okay? He just seemed cute in that light, and I was missing Sam, that's all... And you have to admit it wasn't that bad a rap song..."

"Oh sure, and now you're going to go back to him, right? He doesn't need me anymore," Sheegsy replied in a wavering voice.

"I'm done with that life," Shego remarked with certainty. "I'm done. You're his sidekick now. So whatever you do with Dr. D is none of my business, and I don't care. I'm just here trying to figure out who the hell you are. You have my looks, my powers, my memories... So how are you different? Like how come you hooked up with Dr. D while I didn't?"

"I can't say for you," Sheegsy shrugged. "I just have all your memories in my head, but that's just it. Just memories. It's like being in your head and watching you do whatever you do..."

"Bullshit," Shego interrupted, "Look, I may not be a brain surgeon like Kimmie's mom, but I know enough biology - not to mention what I know from my psych degree - to know that memories make up a majority of who person is. And you said you had all of that not two minutes ago, so don't bullshit me!"

Sheegsy sighed and shook her head. "It's not completely like that... It's like I have a front row seat to every moment in your life, and it took quite a bit of therapy to realize that what happened to you didn't happen to me. I had to sort out what's mine and what's yours... I think that's why I don't have as much attachment to that red-head as you do."

"Leave Kim out of this," Shego warned as her eyes narrowed. "And I can't believe you actually tried to kill her-..."

"Hey it's not my fault; her and that buffoon brought you back into the scene!" Sheegsy interrupted with a snarl. "Besides, I figured she'd dodge it. And if she didn't, she'd have just had a few burns on her face..." Sheegsy drank in Shego's frustrated glower with a coy smile, before she screwed her eyes up in a puzzled manner. "I _have_ been wondering though... Why'd you jump ship? Why give up crime? It must be because of Kim, right? So she's your replacement, isn't she? You just couldn't give up Sam, could you?"

"That has nothing to do with it," Shego snapped quickly. "Things aren't as simple as you think."

"Oh?" Sheegsy smiled wryly. "So explain it to me..."

"Forget it; just tell me how you ended up in the sack with Dr. D?" Shego interrupted coldly, quickly changing the subject. "What do you see in the guy anyway?"

"Did you ever stop to think for a moment just how much he loves you?" Sheegsy asked slowly. "He loves you enough to bring you back from the dead! That's the kind of man he is! And I literally owe my life to him. Do you know what it is like, waking up one day and realizing that everything is a lie?"

"I can imagine..."

"No! I know you can't! I know you, I know how you think, but... I... I didn't know... I didn't know that I was a clone until I realized that there was a two-month gap in my memory. It was like, one day we were sitting in that mountain lair that had collapsed, and next thing I know, time had fast-forwarded two months," Sheegsy explained. "I didn't even remember what happened to his last plan... And then I realized that things... So I decided to ask Drakken about it... And you know how he blabbers out everything after a little persuasion?" Sheegsy snickered to herself a little.

"Yeah?" Shego couldn't help but let a ghost of a smile creep to her face.

"So I strung him up and gave him a good thrashing that I think he still remembers vividly," Sheegsy said triumphantly.

"Remind me to shake your hand if you do get out from prison," Shego nodded in approval despite herself.

"Anyway, once he got things explained... I was trying to figure out the same thing as you... Who am I, why I'm here and all that existential bullshit?" Sheegsy continued in a small voice. "So when Dr. D finally told me the reason he created me... As a replacement for you... I wanted to show him how I could be better, how I was better and..."

"And so you slept with him," Shego finished the rest of the sentence in a bland tone.

"If you want to put it that way, though there were emotions there before our first time..." Sheegsy stopped and waved her hands dismissively. "Anyway, he gave me a promotion... I'm now his partner, not his sidekick, and unlike you, who didn't give a crap about the whole take-over-the-world business... I tried it, and I was pretty good at it. We had this plan to take over the world, network of satellites, death ray, and surrendering world leaders? I even anticipated the exact moment Team Possible would attempt to intervene. We'd planned for that contingency... I was the trump card to show up at the last moment and catch Kimmie by surprise, since we thought that you were dead, and I suppose Dr. D reassuring me that you were dead made me a little careless."

"Care to make a little more sense instead of sounding like Dr. D?" Shego snipped.

"You! We could have taken over the world if not for you! You showing up, sneaking by our security measures, and getting the drop on me..." Sheegsy explained simply, flexing her fingers as though throttling some imaginary phantom with her bare hands. "I was about to eliminate the crucial member of Team Possible... Ron Stoppable... Without him, the team would have folded like a house of cards, and Kim would be a twisted wreck... Dr. D keeps underestimating that idiot of a buffoon... He's always the sneaky little fucker that is the one pressing the self-destruct button, or tripping over the crucial power cord and messing up Dr. D's plans..."

"He's the one who saved me," Shego said abruptly.

"Yeah, see?" Sheegsy scoffed. "Without him, you wouldn't be around to interfere with our plans. No offense to you, of course." Sheegsy fell silent as she placed her hands on her knees. Without looking up, she asked, "So what happens now?"

"I don't care about you or what you do," Shego replied. "I will say that again. You and Dr. D can go run around and do whatever he wants. I don't care; I've got my own life now."

"Uh huh..." Sheegsy remained unconvinced. "So you're not in love with Dr. D or anything?"

"If you were me, how would you feel if Dr. D only told you he loved you after you died?" Shego asked.

"He doesn't love me..." Sheegsy replied quietly.

"Y'know, for someone so certain she loves that blue idiot, you sure seem to be having trouble accepting him being in love with you now..." Shego muttered impatiently, "And if he doesn't love _you_, quit him!" Shego half-shouted, ignoring the rising blush in her cheeks. "He's not worth it; he's oblivious, narrow-sighted, and incompetent. And one day he'd get you killed... And that's not even the worst thing; he'd just replace you with another clone just as easily as he replaced me!"

"I don't know why I feel like that, it's your... Rather, our... Self-confidence issues making me feel like this, but I can't help but worry..." Sheegsy paused for a moment as the comments Shego had been saying, and what Dr. Drakken had actually said back at the lair, finally sunk in. "But he doesn't overlook me or anything like that... And he..." She stopped and gave Shego a serious look for the first time in their conversation. "He also promised he won't make another clone of us again," Sheegsy replied sounding unconvinced. "Just me, that's all..."

"He also signed a contract never to clone me at all! Look where that got us now!" Shego pointed out angrily.

"You know, for someone who doesn't quite care about what I do, you seem to be giving me a lot of advice..." Sheegsy said. "Why do you want to hurt Dr. D so much?"

"He's... He's..." Shego grappled for her words. "He left me for dead! And that's not all... I just... It's... Why him? That's all... Just why him?"

"He's not that bad with me, like I said. Hell, he's a lot better than most of the guys you've known..." Sheegsy replied coolly. "I could list off the number of jerks you've 'dated'... Well... I should say slept with actually... He's a pretty decent guy."

"Oh really?" Shego rolled her eyes. "He lies to his mom about his real job, and still clutches a teddy bear to sleep. _Drewbie_ doesn't quite sound like the name of a mature and reliable person, you know.

"I find the teddy bear cute," Sheegsy remarked, blushing a little. "Besides, he's someone I can relate to. No one in the world who recognizes him, and we're just... Look, unlike you, I don't have a life or a childhood, I don't have a family and I don't have any emotional attachments to half the things you have because I was never there... It's all numb inside! The only thing that I could really call my own was the last two months when I was alive! And my _Drewbie_ understands what I'm going through."

"And what's with the nicknames?" Shego asked in a frustrated half-screech, "Drewbie? And what the _Hell_ kind of name is Sheegsy? Who came up with _that_ one?"

Sheegsy looked up at Shego with an embarrassed flush crossing her mint hued skin, "Um, well..."

"Drakken..." Shego muttered with a silent glower at nothing in particular, "Should've known..."

"So what? I like it, and it's cute!" Sheegsy said defensively, before muttering something under her breath.

"What was that?" Shego said, not sure if she'd heard what the other woman had said clearly, and not certain she wanted confirmation when Sheegsy's blush intensified.

"I said," the clone muttered, "He gave it to me the third time we were making love!"

Shego took a slow, deliberate breath before continuing in a neutral tone. "So what'd he been calling you before that?"

Sheegsy stared at the woman she'd been cloned from in dead silence with, never breaking eye contact, "Doy..." she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"You're _kidding_ me!" Shego exclaimed, once again growing exasperated with the conversation. "Jesus... I don't know what's worse: Dr. D screaming out my name to you during sex, or coming up with that... That... Silly-ass nickname for you during sex!" Shego sighed, shaking her head. "I don't even know why I'm asking you! I shouldn't care, it's just... It's just hard to accept that Drakken's..." Shego shuddered a little at the thought. "He's doing things to my body that... Ugh..."

"Maybe that's just because you have a dirty mind," Sheegsy laughed as she gave Shego a wink. "You're just imagining things. Things aren't as kinky as you think. Dr. D isn't that sort of guy..."

"Yeah, but I can't get it out of my mind, that him and you are... You know... It's like... How do I know that he's not sleeping with you and thinking of me? Just... That gives me the creeps," Shego replied.

"I think I know what your problem is," Sheegsy replied as though in deep thought. "You're just having problems with drawing your boundaries, and since you keep thinking of me as your clone, you're just very uncomfortable accepting my actions as they make you feel powerless."

"Err... Yap yap, psychobabble bullshit?" Shego snarkily replied. "What the fuck are you talking about? And where the fuck did you learn all that?"

"Uh..." Sheegsy raised an eyebrow. "Hello, psych degree; I have every bit of the knowledge about it you do? You know it's not easy establishing your own identity after realizing that everything you have belongs to someone else... And I think it'll help us both if we don't think of each other as original and clone, if you know what I mean? That way, I won't be living under your shadow all the time, and you'll sleep better at night not caring who I sleep with..."

"So how does this work?" Shego asked suspiciously.

"I've been thinking, since technically speaking, I received my genetic material from you, that makes you my mom," Sheegsy eyed the other woman carefully to gauge her reaction.

"No way! No _fucking _way!" Shego hollered in outrage. "I'm... Me? A mom? At my age? You... I... What the hell?"

"I guessed you wouldn't take it so well..." Sheegsy shrugged with a bemused smile on her face. "But you are my mom, you know..."

"No, no way... I refuse to let some snarky upstart test-tube _spawn_ call me mom!" Shego raved.

"You know," Sheegsy replied softly. "That hurt."

"Right," Shego replied sarcastically. "And calling me a mom at the prime in my life..."

"I thought you'd want to be a mom," Sheegsy shouted back angrily. "Didn't you have some deep-rooted regret that you'd never bear children?"

Shego stammered. "Dammit, I hate how you just get into my head. Look, mom's just wrong okay? Besides, how can you call me mom? You look as old as me... I'm just..."

"I guess you can think of me as your sister then," Sheegsy replied with a smirk. "You know, identical twins, similar DNA, similar looks, everything... You could be the twin I never had."

"Correction," Shego cut in, returning that smirk on her twin's face. "_You_ could be the twin I never had."

"So, sisters?" Sheegsy asked with a shrug.

"Beats clone, doesn't it?" Shego grudgingly admitted. "Fine, I suppose I could think of you as that sister I never had. Besides, someone has to be the black sheep of the family."

"Right," Sheegsy nodded with a smirk. "So I guess I can look you up if Drakken's giving me a headache?"

"Not likely," Shego replied acidly, then pursed her lips in consideration. "Maybe... You're nothing like my brothers, right?"

"Nah," Sheegsy shook her head with a smile. "I hate them as much as you do, and from the bottom of my genetically similar heart, I sympathize with you."

"Right, so I guess we're cool?" Shego asked warily.

"For now," Sheegsy nodded her head. "I think we still have a lot of things to sort out. Like your old clothes in Drakken's lair. Can I have them?"

"Only if you can get out of here," Shego replied. "Otherwise, I don't see how you deserve my stuff."

"Good," Sheegsy smiled. "I just wanted to make sure what's mine and what's yours."

"For the last time, you can have Drakken," Shego said with a sigh. "Just... Don't tell me what you two are doing... That's completely _your_ business. I'll drop by again before I leave with Kimmie and Ron, so... Just sit in there until then, okay?"

"No promises," Sheegsy called after her.

"Right, I wouldn't expect any less from my sister," Shego replied with a smile as she turned around and walked towards door, asking the nervous looking guard to let her out when she reached the door. Casting her eyes back at the sole figure in her maximum security cell, Shego shook her head before walking back to look for the people who mattered the most to her now.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Finally another long hiatus before I updated. Yeah, real life has been getting in the way. I should stop making excuses and continue writing, right?

Anyway, Sheegsy isn't that hostile towards Shego after she's sorted out Shego's feelings for Drakken. I think that's what pushed her over the edge in the first place. But I think Sheegsy would really like to think of Shego as a sister. It all comes to her being overprotective of the relationships she already has, and an eagerness to make new relationships. And without a doubt, she's lonely. Other than Drakken, she's got no one else, so that's why she sort of jumped at the chance at calling Shego family.

I honestly don't know what's with Sheegsy finding things cute. Things like cuddlebuddies, her name and Drewbie... I'm thinking Sheegsy acts more like a teenager than an adult, she's trying to experience things for herself and comparing with Shego's memories. So that's probably where the childishness comes from. But yeah, I kinda see that as a part of Shego that she probably had suppressed a long time ago.

And yeah, I'm also trying my best not to imagine what Drakken and Sheegsy do behind closed doors.


	11. Chapter 11

"I can't thank you enough for opening up on a Sunday just for KP, François!" Ron, with Rufus on his shoulder, enthused as they walked into the styling salon with a mortified Kim and an amused Shego in tow.

"It is no problem at all, Monsieur Stoppable," François said with an easily understandable flourish despite his heavy French accent, "As much as you two have saved the world, it is the least I could do!"

"Well," Kim muttered tugging at her short hair irritably. Her mom had tried to do some damage control upon seeing Kim's frazzled, burnt hair the night before. However, Kim was now firmly convinced that her mom should stick to neurosurgery. "I appreciate it. I can't believe mom ended up giving me a cut looking like hers!"

"Well, Kimmie," Shego said with a snicker as she sat down and picked up a fashion magazine, "You did lose a good chunk of it last night. Just be glad it happened on a weekend."

"Don't remind me," Kim grumbled before looking in defeat at an eager François. "Um... I kinda got my hair torched, and I was wondering if I could get it styled differently, but not _too_ short? Just please don't make so I don't look so much like my mom!" She held up her Kimmunicator, displaying a picture of her mother.

"Ah, I have just the style for you, Ms. Possible!" he answered with firm nod. "I am assuming you want the damaged areas removed as well?"

"Um, yea?" Kim said a little sharper than she'd intended, "And make sure you don't use any conditioners or anything I have to go to France to get..." she added in a calmer tone while giving Ron a withering look as she remembered the one time she'd brought her then best friend to her preferred stylist. "No offense to France, but..."

"But of course, Ms. Possible," he assured her as he draped an arm invitingly over her shoulder and led her towards the back of the shop, "Now come to the back with me. First we need to wash your hair…"

Shego looked over at Ron as he plopped himself into the seat next to her, resting his hands on his knees to quell the nervous jumping they seemed to perform of their own accord. "Something wrong, Ron?"

"Oh, just..." he sighed. "Kim was just tweaked this morning. She was going on and on about how she didn't like her hair and that she looked like her mom. Trying to calm her down is worse than fighting off hordes of rabid monkeys..." Ron let out a shudder before sighing, "I don't get her. I think her mom's got a great hairstyle, and it _does_ look good on Kim..."

"That's not it, Ron," Shego replied smirking slightly, "Take it from someone who has a clone: it's not that she doesn't want to look good or that she thinks the cut looks bad... She just doesn't want to look like her mom. She has her mom's looks already, and that is more than enough for some people."

"Yeah, I guess?" Ron agreed. He sighed again and slouched back in his seat, an almost embarrassed smile on his face. "I don't know what to think about KP with short hair, though..."

"Ron, relax!" Shego reassured him, "I go to François myself; he's really, really good at this."

"Right..." Ron said, dropping the subject. After a silent moment, he hesitantly asked, "Hey, Shego. Do you think Sheegsy was really trying to hurt Kim? I mean... You never tried to burn off half of Kim's face before..."

"Ouch..."

"No..." Ron flustered. "That's not what I mean... Aww... You know what I mean... I mean, is Sheegsy going to try and kill us every time she meets us? She already tried to kill me once before..."

"Honestly?" Shego mused distractedly, shrugging off his faux pas, "I don't know... She was... Awfully hurt when she thought I was there for Dr. D... But while she was trying to hurt Kim, I don't really think she was trying to kill her... How do I put this? It was more like she didn't care what she did anymore..." Shego grimaced and took a sip from the bottle of water she was carrying with her.

"So she's taking the whole clone thing as hard as you?" Ron asked.

"Well... We both think alike..." Shego drawled sarcastically. "Though she had over a month to work it out. I only just found out last week..."

"So how'd you two work things out?"

"Just talked things through, I guess..." Shego mused. "As long as we're clear on what's mine and what's hers, I think we're fine with that. She can have Dr. D for all I care..." She shuddered a little at the thought.

"Heh, so it doesn't bother you that you have a clone running around out there anymore?"

"I still am," Shego explained slowly. "But we agreed to think of each other as identical twins instead of clones. It's a whole lot easier to accept a phenomenon that happens three out of every one thousand births than the byproduct of some mad scientist's test tube experiment..."

"So freak by nature over freak by man?" Ron teased.

"Hey!" Shego poked him roughly in his side causing him to jump a little.

Ron chuckled as he swatted away her hands. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean..." he gasped desperately.

"Hmph," Shego snorted with mild amusement. "It beats being what she suggested at first. She suggested that she call me mom."

"Mom?" Ron stifled a laugh. "What's so bad about that?"

"You tell me, you're laughing too..." Shego glared at the blond.

"Heh," Ron snickered. "It's just you're suddenly a mom... You skipped right past the baby and teenage years and now get to be the proud mom of a fully-grown woman sleeping with your ex-boss. Who knows you might be a grandmother next year..."

"That is not funny..." Shego snapped at him. "Besides, I'm not mom material. That would be impossible…"

"Why not?" Ron interrupted, "I think you'd make a great mom."

"Yeah right."

"I've seen you playing with Hana," Ron pointed out. "For a tough woman with flaming hands and fights for a living, you sure are gentle with her."

"Hey, for your information, that little monster grows on you," Shego remarked, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Besides, she's half ninja anyway..."

"Well, I think you'll make a great mom," Ron enthused brightly. "You got the mother's touch, and I'd definitely trust you with my kids someday."

Shego turned her head aside and blushed furiously, mumbling something incoherent under her breath as she avoided the blond's eyes. She screwed her face up in distaste as she tried her best to concentrate on the fashion magazine in her hands. However the words inside were getting all jumbled up and the pictures of faceless celebrities didn't quite register in her mind. Her mind kept returning to the thought of her being a mother and Ron's children...

"What's going on, Sheila? Why's your face red?"

Shego was startled back to reality by Kim's voice interrupting her vision of a suburban house with two blonde-haired children, a boy and a girl, with pale green skin running around the backyard with a family of naked mole rats. She coughed guiltily and tried to hide her embarrassment behind the magazine in her hand.

"Oh, nothing much. Just talking about Sheegsy," Ron explained cheerfully as he stood up to greet his girlfriend. "Boy, Kim... That was fast..."

"So how do you like it?"

Shego slowly lowered the magazine enough to peek over the top and keep most of her reddened cheeks hidden. Her jaw dropped open with surprise, her earlier embarrassment quickly forgotten. Kim's hair was styled quite short around the sides, rear and front of her hair, but somewhat longer on top; overall, the layered style framed her face in a tomboyish yet very feminine manner. The hair was cut evenly across nape of her neck, and swept up from there, barely covering the top of her ears and shortening to just above her eyebrows in front. It was almost punk-rock-ish, the way it was gelled to give it a wet look. And to the mint-hued former thief, it looked all too familiar...

"... look hot, KP," Ron applauded his girlfriend's newest look. Even Rufus stood on his shoulder and gave her two thumbs up. Turning to the shell-shocked older woman, Ron asked, "Shego, what do you think? Doesn't she just look downright badical?"

"I... Yeah..." Shego stammered. "You look great, Kim."

"You sure? You don't think it's too short?" Kim asked hesitantly.

"No... Not at all," Shego hurriedly reassured the young teen, a fragile smile spreading across her face. "You look like a dream..."

"Thanks, Sheila," Kim beamed with a wide smile at the mint-hued woman. "I guess it's good then..."

"Hey, no fair, KP!" Ron protested. "How come you don't believe me when I say you look good?"

"You're my boyfriend," Kim smiled, as she gently prodded his nose. "You're supposed to say I look good no matter what..."

"Aww... KP," Ron moaned, as he turned to François. "Great job you did here. So how much do we owe you?"

"For anyone else," François declared proudly. "Two hundred dollars."

"What?" Kim and Ron balked at the outrageous price. Ron quickly tallied in his head how many Nacos that would cost.

"But for you two, it's on the house!" François replied with a smile. "You two have saved my business and reputation from a bad shipment of hair gel. This is the least I could do."

"But this is way too expensive," Kim cried out. "I can't possibly accept this..."

"Then let me take a picture..." François replied smoothly. "I'll like to show all my customers that I did the hair of the famous Kim Possible..."

"That, I can do," Kim smiled as François reached behind the counter and pulled out a digital camera.

Shego watched entranced as Kim struck few hair-centric fashion style poses smiling brilliantly for the camera. The young red-head looked like a natural as she instinctively knew which side to show the camera, and the carefree smile etched on her face spoke volumes. As Kim danced for the camera, with Ron proudly looking on, Shego found herself giving a hasty excuse to slip outside, pulling a cigarette out of her purse and lighting it as she stepped out of the door. She tried not to look on as Kim gave a few last poses, but found herself captivated as she stared through the front window of François' shop. Taking a deep drag, Shego struggled to stop the quivering in her shoulders as the floodgates opened and she remembered...

* * *

Dr. Elizabeth Director was rather busy woman. Normally, running Global Justice required the micromanagement of all the agents and other assets within the organization. This obviously left her very little time to get out from behind the desk. The last three days had added to that severely, and being forced to file what amounted to a mountain of paperwork over the apprehension of Sheegsy, Shego's clone, had sapped what little time she normally had to herself.

She knew, after spending Sunday and most of Monday doing nothing but paperwork, she needed a break. Her mind had weighed heavily on the developments surrounding that incident, which made her 

question a little about her own managerial aptitude. While handling the day to day operations of a massive intelligence outfit like Global Justice, perhaps she really had come to rely less on her own gut instinct, and more on those annoying reports that demanded her attentions incessantly.

She needed more than a break. She needed a goddamn vacation.

Dr. Director found herself wandering down the hallways, stumbling across the occasional agent who saluted before proceeding with their duties. As a way of remembering who's who, she pictured their resume along with their 2"x2" photo attached. Agent Brown, graduated MIT magna cum laude in applied physics and engineering. Agent Holthorn, graduated Berkeley summa cum laude in anthropology and criminal science. She could recite their achievements on paper to the very last detail, but in the end, Dr. Director realized that she didn't know her agents well enough. Not like she used to.

Somehow she found herself wandering into Global Justice's main hangar deck, where they kept most of their hover jets and larger ground vehicles. Casting her discerning gaze across the rows of vehicles, she noted with a small smile that at least people were doing her job and the proper rules and regulations were being followed. With an approving nod to herself, she strolled down the aisles with her hands behind her back, once again letting her mind wander.

She came up short when she chanced upon a pair of agents holding a standard-issue, Global Justice non-lethal stun rods. With a frown, she strode up to them. She didn't recall any guards stationed on the hangar deck. There weren't any prisoner transfers today...

Stepping forward to tell them to go and do something productive, she heard a voice yell out excitedly as it mimicked the sounds of shredding a guitar, albeit badly. With a silent groan, Dr. Director knew what was around the corner.

"Good afternoon, Motor Ed," Dr. Director spoke, as she watched the blond mullet man leap on top of the hood of a Humvee and throw his head back and strike a surprisingly good air guitar pose.

"Oh, heya Patch!" Motor Ed spun around to address the leader of Global Justice. Sporting a dazzling grin, he replied, "I was wondering when you'd come around. I always knew the babes couldn't stay away from this." He slicked his hair back and gave her a wink. "So ready to go one-on-one with the Motor Ed?"

"Edward Lipsky," Dr. Director sighed at his antics as she found her own hand reaching for her personal sidearm. "You wouldn't want me to throw you back with Francis Lucre for a month, would you?" The mention of Lucre's name drained the blood from Motor Ed's face, and he quickly hopped off the hood of the vehicle.

"No, Patch!" Motor Ed protested. "Anything but that! Look, I'll even let you touch the mullet if you want! Seriously!"

"No thank you," Dr. Director replied coldly as she turned to look at his handiwork. "So tell me what you've done to this Humvee?"

"Ah," Motor Ed beamed proudly, as he followed her gaze. "So you wanna ride with me? I'll show you!"

"No thank you," Dr. Director gritted her teeth, as she glared at him with her one good eye. "Just tell me why I should actually let you tinker with Global Justice's _real_ machines. This still looks like a bone stock regulation model."

"That's 'cause I haven't gotten around to the custom paintjob and the decals yet!" Motor Ed grinned proudly. "Let me show ya the inside."

Grudgingly, Dr. Director allowed herself to be escorted into the front passenger seat, before Motor Ed ran around the front and got into the driver's seat. Glancing around the interior of the car, her eyes fell upon the dashboard Hawaiian hula girl ornament. "Cute," she mumbled.

"But you ain't seen nothing yet," Motor Ed sported a wide grin. "Here, let me show you..." He reached over to the radio on the dashboard and flicked a switch. Instantly, the entire car was rocking with the crunchy bass and loud drums of Motorhead blaring through some infernally large speakers embedded in the front seats.

Covering her ears with her hand, she reached over and smacked his hands away from the radio and turned off the loud music. With a cross look on her face, she glared at Motor Ed. "What the hell was that? This is supposed to be a military vehicle, not some punk kid wannabe's ride! This isn't what I expected from you."

"But Patch!" Motor Ed whined. "What would a ride be without such awesome tunes? I thought you'd like it!"

"As a matter of fact, I don't," Dr. Director growled angrily. "And stop calling me Patch!"

"Right, Patch," Motor Ed continued, sobering for a moment. "As a side note, this system _is_ loud enough to be heard over a firefight." His face quickly dissolved back into his childlike grin. "Besides, I got more stuffs to impress you with. Besides a safe 'hydroxy' injection system that increases fuel efficiency by almost thirty percent, I did this here." Motor Ed reached over and flipped a switch next to the cigarette lighter. Instantly, the entire windscreen became translucent and a movie began to play on it. "You know, Patch, like how we used to have drive-ins? Now no more drive-ins! The car basically is the whole entire cinema!"

"You know what?" Dr. Director let out a restless sigh. "I've already had it with you... I gave you almost a month, and all you show me are these playthings…" She shook her head in annoyance as the movie continued to play across the windscreen, "And I thought I could take you seriously, but I can't. Global Justice is an intelligence outfit and we have no place for movie theaters in cars."

"But Patch! This _is_ serious!" Motor Ed protested. "Take a look at how awesome this is." He flipped another switch on the steering wheel, and the middle portion of the wheel receded back, only to reveal a miniaturized keyboard inside. "Look me a long time to get this working, but you know how you go on those night missions, and those headlights are always a dead giveaway? Take a look at this."

Typing in some commands, the movie screen faded away only to be replaced by... Nothing. The windshield was as clear as day, and looked like a regular piece of glass. Dr. Director looked in confusion at Motor Ed. "So what am I suppose to see here?" she asked, glancing at the grinning mullet man.

"You'll see," Motor Ed replied smugly. "Just ask your men to turn off the hangar lights."

Deciding to humor him just a little longer, Dr. Director poked her head out of the car window and ordered one of the guards to go kill the lights in the hanger. As she waited, Motor Ed drummed his fingers on the dashboard with an annoyingly smug look on his face. "What's taking them so long?" she grumbled, as if she couldn't stand to be around this insufferable man any longer.

"They already did," Motor Ed proudly declared.

"Huh?" Dr. Director looked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Look here!" Motor Ed flicked a switch again, and as though by magic, the scene through the windscreen seemed to darken before her very eyes.

"Wow..." Dr. Director found in hard to contain her surprise. By the looks of things, Motor Ed knew he had her full attention. Flipping the switch back on, the image seemed to brighten again, and it looked as though it was daylight outside. Dr. Director had to stick her head out the window again just to ascertain that this wasn't some trick to mess with her. "How did you..."

"Patch, Patch, Patch," Motor Ed grinned proudly. "I impressed you, didn't I?"

"Maybe," Dr. Director looked at the mullet man with newfound respect. "But... How?" She waved her hands at the screen in front of her, earning a snort from the mullet man beside her. "We've been trying to get a system half this effective for years..."

"Well, I used some dumbed-down nano-tech from Cousin Drew..." he began, smirking in an eerily similar manner to his cousin, but his voice taking on a serious, professional demeanor that Dr. Director would never have expected from the mullet man. "I just applied them in a matrix across the windshield so they absorb light like a CCD camera, but at five times 1080P HD resolution across each window. But there's so many bots across a given pixel that I was able to check across multiple spectrums, including UV and infrared and color adjust them into the 'normal' visual spectrum."

Motor Ed had tapped a few keys as the screen shifted across the afore mentioned spectrums of light. "I did have to design a new windshield, but it ended up being cheaper than a replacement from the parts catalog. It's a multi-layer sandwich of translucent aluminum, y'know, like they use in those so-called invisible braces? And Lexan film, so it's a hell of a lot stronger than the standard or even armored glass that comes on the Hummer upgrades. The receptors are all on the outer quarter of the windshield, while the display nano-tech is just on the inner surface. And because it's see-through, it still acts like a normal windshield even in the event of catastrophic damage."

"What else can this piece of technology do?"

"Oh the regular," Motor Ed explained lightly. "HUD displaying vehicle maintenance, tactical overview, mounted weapon charge status for energy armaments, and ammo status for standard armaments, video conferencing..." Motor Ed displayed the functions on the windscreen as he listed them off. "And of course GPS... You never need to stop and ask for directions ever again. It even highlights the right exit for you to take."

"How soon can you install this in my car?" Dr. Director asked suddenly.

The smile on Motor Ed's face was so wide it almost split his face. "Patch, I knew you'd come around," he grinned, as he flipped back to the movie. "I could do it for you by next week, sooner if you go out on a date with me."

"You're still a prisoner of Global Justice," Dr. Director gritted her teeth at the gall of the man sitting next to her. "There is no going out for you."

"Aww... Patch... C'mon..." Motor Ed pleaded.

"No, that's final," Dr. Director replied.

"Then what about a date in here?" Motor Ed waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "We got everything we need right here. He reached over to the armrest between the two front seats and lifted up the cover to reveal a large tub of golden kernels. "Popcorn, anyone?"

"Oh, god, you installed a popcorn machine in this thing?" Dr. Director groaned.

"Aww... Chill, Patch, it's microwave, I just dropped it in the console," Motor Ed grinned. "Take a time out, and enjoy the movie. It's one of my favorites." His hand snaked over and grabbed a handful of popcorn before stuffing it into his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched in amusement as Dr. Director tentatively picked up a kernel and chewed on it slowly as the opening credits started to roll.

Even though the movie was the typical action flick, chock full of mindless special effects of cars exploding and people shooting each other, Dr. Director found herself thinking back to the problem she had been dealing with for the last week. She glanced over to look at Motor Ed who was intently absorbed into the action onscreen, wondering if he might have something to add. After all, he was in a similarly grey position. Despite his mullet, maybe there was more underneath all that outdated, eighties hairstyle than vehicular engineering virtuosity.

"Motor Ed," she began suddenly. "Do you think Shego can be trusted?"

"Huh?" Motor Ed tore himself away from the movie just to look at Dr. Director. "You mean Green?"

"I'm having this problem with her," Dr. Director explained slowly. "Shego... Used to be in GJ, and had the potential to be the best agent Global Justice had seen since its inception. She had all the necessary skills, training and experience. I honestly believe, she would have been next in line to take over Global Justice if she had not left all those years ago."

"So what's the problem?" Motor Ed asked. "Is it because she's been boning my cousin for the past couple of months?"

"How do you know about?" Dr. Director reached up and rubbed her good eye, 'I forgot, you talk to Drakken regularly..."

"Yeah, well, I haven't seen him since he got back, but I did see Green a few weeks ago..." Motor Ed paused at the sharp look Dr. Director gave him and grinned. "That's not really Green, is it, Patch?"

"I have no idea why I'm telling you this," Dr. Director began, ignoring the panicking, logical side of her mind and following her gut for the first time since she let Shego go free, "But no... Drakken made a clone of Shego. A perfect clone, down to the fingerprints..."

"Whoa, seriously?" Motor Ed replied in surprise, "He's been trying to do that, well, make a perfect clone of someone, since he was in the university. But like I said, what's the problem?"

"Thing is, is there such a thing as a truly reformed criminal?" Dr. Director asked him. "Shego had assisted in the capture of Drakken and her clone. But I can't forget the fact that she switched sides once, and then worked for your cousin in trying to take over the world. I'm not sure I can trust her to put her in any sort of position where she can possibly... Okay... Bottom line is, I tagged her and she's not very happy about it."

"Tagged?" Motor Ed asked. "You mean like those radio tags they do for dolphins and wild animals?"

Dr. Director cringed at description. "Not exactly," she replied. "I put a poison capsule in her, designed to break down if she didn't come back on time."

"Woah... She's gonna be pissed..." He shook his head in amusement again, before his face turned surprisingly serious, "But poison? That's harsh, Patch," Motor Ed whistled. "I thought tagging her was bad enough."

"I couldn't let her go up against Drakken without some kind of precaution," Dr. Director replied defensively. "Who knew where her loyalties lay at the time? I had no choice. She could have been leading Team Possible into a trap."

"Seriously?" Motor Ed asked. "Woah, yeah... I do see your problem. Her and Drew are, or well... Probably were, now, but yeah... They were tight. I mean, she wouldn't even go out on a date with me. And she wouldn't ditch Drew even though Professor Dementor always came around and made an offer every time her contract was about to expire."

"So can I trust her?" Dr. Director asked.

"Patch, let's refresh what you're saying," Motor Ed replied as he scratched his head. "You and Shego used to be tight like her and my cuz, right?" Dr. Director nodded, surprise at Motor Ed's logical jump etched on her face, "Ok, it's like this... You're like cruising down the highway in a Shelby GT500, and you got into an accident when the brakes didn't bite. Then you got totaled, right? And now you're wondering if the brakes are going to work again."

Dr. Director rolled her eyes at the oddly appropriate car metaphor, "In a nutshell..."

"You just got to get your GT500 fixed!" Motor Ed remarked as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You gotta ask yourself first, why did Shelby's brakes fail? Was it because the brake line was cut? Or brake fluid was leaking? Or the pads were worn? Then once you found the reason failed _then_ you gotta fix that reason so that she doesn't fail again."

"Come again?" Dr. Director asked.

"It's simple, like car maintenance 101!" Motor Ed announced. "You have to connect with your GT500 for it to not fail you. You got to know every part of Shelby, every single nut and bolt, and that's how you know the moment something is out of place... That's how you know how to fix it, Patch... Shelby only trusts you as much as you trust Shelby. If you know what makes her stop running, you know how to keep her running!"

"So what you're saying is that I just need to get to know Shego again, and find out what makes her tick now as opposed to then?" Dr. Director asked slowly.

"Exact-a-mundo!" Motor Ed smacked his hand on the steering wheel. "If you find out why she was so tight with Drew, then you'll know if you can trust her with Drew, or anyone else for that matter."

"I don't think Shego's that willing to open up to me," Dr. Director replied. "We have a long history..."

"Ah well... That just means that you already have a connection!" Motor Ed remarked. "That makes things so much easier."

"Right," Dr. Director nodded her head slowly. Glancing over at the dashboard clock, she was surprised at the time that had already passed. Reaching to the side to open the door, she asked, "So fixing me up with this?"

"For you, Patch?" Motor Ed smiled at her. "It's on the house."

"You sure?" Dr. Director grinned to herself. "I was thinking about saying yes to that date. But if you insist..."

"What? I take that back..." Motor Ed's protests were cut short by her slamming the car door shut. Before he could get out of the car and renegotiate his offer, Dr. Director was already by the hangar exit, tapping her foot on the floor while she waited for the elevator. Glancing at her watch, she'd noticed that it was four in the afternoon.

Maybe she'd just call it a day and give Shego a call and have a drink together like in the good ol' days. Maybe that's just what the both of them needed.

* * *

There are days, and then there are _days_.

For Kim, Monday was one of those days. Her new hairstyle had garnered more attention than she had originally expected. Upon stepping onto school grounds, she was the center of attention. While she didn't mind it at first, the stares soon became a lot more than just looks of curiosity. The furtive whispering and the darting eyes started to make her feel uncomfortable, and she felt every aspect of her being scrutinized down to the last detail. A quick check with Monique had revealed the rumor mill was working in overdrive during the first fifteen minutes of school.

The rumors would be rather amusing, as Ron had pointed out, if not for the fact that everyone else seemed to be taking them rather seriously. They ranged from the downright hilarious to the type that character assassinations are made of. One claimed that she had a cooking accident and burnt a good 

part of her hair as well as destroyed her house. Another was that she'd lost her wig, and that this was her actual hairstyle.

However, the most unbelievable one was that her change of hairstyle represented her change of lifestyle: she was dumping Ron and coming out of the closet.

As unbelievable as that sounded a good portion of the students bought into that particular rumor. Since then, Kim had found a few notes slipped into her locker from guys, hoping to "save her from the pitfalls of lesbianism" to put it nicely, and girls, inviting her to explore her newfound sexuality. Ron had just laughed it off and said that Kim should feel flattered by the attention.

For some reason, Ron's carefree attitude towards her predicament had irked her. She was his girlfriend after all, and he should show a bit of concern about the situation: if he could show the least bit of concern for Shego when she was in a funk over her clone, he could at least step up for his girlfriend and do something about these rumors. It left her wondering whether he truly cared about her as his girlfriend.

But before she could settle that problem, she had a more immediate, pressing problem on her hands.

The cheer squad had seemed more than a little distracted, unnerved, or even overtly intrigued by her new hairstyle. Bonnie had commented in her typical backhanded manner that Kim's new style was an improvement. After having a full day of people scrutinizing her hairstyle, Kim wasn't in any mood to put up with Bonnie's smugness and she called her rival out on it. That had quickly boiled down into a hostile argument, until Tara stepped in and dragged Bonnie into the locker room for a good talk-to.

Unfortunately, the practice hadn't improved from there. In fact, it was one of the worst practices she could ever remember. The last straw was when Hope had mistimed a jump so badly that she fell on Jessica and Marcella. None of them got badly hurt, but that prompted Kim to call off practice. But not before she gave Marcella and the entire team a scathing tongue lashing, reminding them that the all-important regionals were just around the corner.

Kim had been ruthless with her criticism, calling out names and pointing out mistakes one after another without giving the girls a chance to defend themselves. She ended the session by storming out of the gym, without so much as a glance back and hitting the showers alone straight away.

But before she could pack up her gym bag and escape the horrid day at school, not to mention snuggle up on the couch with a tub of much needed chocolate ice cream, she was stopped cold. Marcella had entered the locker room and with a cold, emotionless mask on her face, telling Kim that Shego wanted to see her right away.

Grumbling under her breath, she found herself pacing outside Shego's office. There was already somebody in there, and Kim was in no mood to stay a second longer in school than she had to. When the door finally opened, relief immediately gave way to disgust as Kim came face to face with none other than, Bonnie Rockwaller.

Exchanging hateful glares, the two girls didn't speak a word. They just stood facing each other like alley cats until Tara emerged from behind Bonnie and placed her hands Bonnie's shoulder. After a gently nudge, Bonnie sighed and walked down the hallway before another argument could take place. As the 

two of them disappeared around the corridor, Tara turned silently and gave Kim glance, before ushering Bonnie further down the hall.

"Kim, get in here," Shego's loud, irritated voice rang out, breaking her thoughts.

Kim cringed at the manner in which Shego had called her. With a defeated sigh, she stepped into Shego's office. "Hey, Sheila," Kim greeted her gym teacher and cheer coach weakly.

"Kim," Shego spoke to Kim in that same harsh tone, "I just heard a few worrying things from some members of the cheer team. Care to explain?"

"Well," Kim replied nervously, approaching the desk, but not sitting "Hope screwed up. I mean, it wasn't even the hard part of the routine, and she fell on Jess and Marc-..."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Shego interrupted coldly. "I'm talking about you yelling at the cheer team like a drill sergeant. No matter how badly they screw up, that does _not_ give you the right to treat them like that!"

"I did not act like a drill sergeant!" Kim interrupted hotly. "I was pointing out their mistakes! I'm sure Bonnie was just in here exaggerating everything that happened!"

"Kim," Shego gritted her teeth as she spoke as calmly as she could. "Did you know that you made Jessica and Liz cry?" Shego paused a moment to let that register. Seeing the shock on Kim's face, she continued stiffly, "It's not just Bonnie who's angry with you: Marcella, Hope, even _Tara_ are all angry. You just lost the faith and confidence of your entire cheer squad."

"I..." Kim choked on her words as the seriousness of her actions just sank in.

"So before I mete out any punishment," Shego spoke slowly as Kim wince at the mention of the word, "I would like to hear your side of the story. That way we shall see if you're still fit to be the captain of the cheer team."

"What?" Kim almost shrieked in panic. "You're going to take away my captaincy? You can't do that!"

"Kim," Shego held up a hand to calm down the red-head. "The captaincy may just be the least of your worries, and that wasn't my suggestion... Although I may have to take you off the team entirely if I don't like what I hear."

Kim's shoulders slumped in defeat as she stared open-mouth at the raven-haired woman. "No..." a single word escaped her lips. "Bonnie was the one who put you up to this, wasn't she?"

"Why do you keep thinking that Bonnie's out to get you?" Shego asked.

"Well, did she or did she not try to get me thrown off the cheerleading team?" Kim demanded.

"For your information, she did not try to get you thrown off the cheerleading team," Shego replied sternly. "That remains _my_ sole discretion if you continue to be stubborn and uncooperative. Bonnie just 

told me about how you snapped at her when she complimented you on your hairstyle before practice today..."

"Complimented?" Kim echoed incredulously, interrupting the mint-hued teacher. "Sheila, she practically called me a dyke!"

"Did she?"

"Not in those words," Kim muttered to herself. "But I know she was implying it!"

"Her actual words were, 'I think that hairstyle suits you.'" Shego reminded Kim. "Maybe it was her tone or inflexion, but from what she said, I believe she meant it as a sincere compliment."

"She's lying!" Kim raised her voice accusingly. "She's always been finding some way of putting me down. Who are you going to believe anyway, a snake like Bonnie, or me?"

"It was an honest compliment," Shego insisted quietly. "And I believe her."

"What? Why?"

"Because we've talked about it," Shego replied simply. "Do you remember the last time Bonnie pulled something like that with you?"

"No." Kim answered uncertainly.

"It was when you attacked me." Shego began, only to be interrupted by Kim once again

"Now can you see what Bonnie's capable of?" Kim shot back. "She's always been doing these sorts of things! It's like she purposely made me blow up in front of the cheer squad."

"Kim, Bonnie's sorry for what she did to you that day," Shego said.

"Huh?" Kim replied gracelessly, "Bullshit!"

"The day after you attacked me, Bonnie came to my office and apologized to me for causing all that trouble, even though it wasn't entirely her fault," Shego remarked stiffly. "In fact, she's been so remorseful about that day that she had wanted to apologize to you. She didn't know you were going through such a hard time and she felt really bad for making you blow up like that."

"No way, Sheila!" Kim mumbled with disbelief. "If she's so goddamn sorry, why hasn't she said anything to me yet?"

"Because she was afraid that you wouldn't believe her, or you'd use it against her," Shego replied evenly. "Which is _exactly_ your reaction right now; we went through this a hundred times, and I believe she's trying her best to change. Kim, she was trying to be nice to you, and you just took her words as an insult and blew up in her face."

"I don't believe it," Kim replied with arms crossed. "I don't believe Bonnie can change..."

"You mean like how I changed?" Shego raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think you're being a little too judgmental?"

"I... Well... Maybe..." Kim said helplessly. "I don't know... It's Bonnie... We've argued for the longest time ever, and that's not easy to forget just like that. Plus she keeps on putting Ron down..."

"That's a non-issue," Shego replied. "Ron doesn't let it get to him. Just give Bonnie a chance to prove herself. It's hard to notice, but she is trying very hard. She hasn't tried to cause you any trouble in quite a while. If you don't trust her, then at least listen to me, just a little."

"Fine..." Kim grudgingly agreed. "So are we done here?"

"Not quite," Shego remarked. "There was something that set you off in the first place. So what's bugging you?"

"I'm fine..."

"Yadda, yadda, yadda..." Shego waved her hand airily. "Let's pretend we argue back and forth for a moment, and since I'm not letting you out of my office until you talk to me, you finally relent and let me know what's bugging you. Right, so your turn."

Kim glared at the older woman in annoyance. She instinctively reached her left hand up to her hair and brushed it behind her ear. Her attempted look defiance deflated when she realized she couldn't do that anymore, muttering softly, "I hate my hair..."

"What's wrong with it? I think it looks nice..."

"Everyone's staring at me because of it!" Kim grumbled. "It's like there's something wrong with me, and there are rumors about me..."

"Oh Kim," Shego smiled reassuringly, "You shouldn't worry about that. Trust me, people are staring because it's a new look and you look great with that style. So let them say whatever they like."

"Some of them are calling this a dyke haircut..." Kim mumbled angrily.

"Oh? And how would they know what a dyke haircut is?" Shego wondered out loud.

"But they're calling me a dyke anyway!"

"You are way too uptight for someone your age," Shego remarked. "You care too much about what people think about you. Besides, you're not a dyke, so why should it bother you in the least?"

"I just got twelve notes in my locker this afternoon asking me out on a date!" Kim sighed helplessly. "From both guys and girls!"

Shego chuckled softly to herself. "If you only knew..." Shego quietly spoke to herself with a reminiscent smile playing on her lips. "I think that's rather flattering to receive that many date offers. There's nothing wrong with that. Unless you're thinking of cheating on Ron."

"Over half of those notes were from girls!" Kim exclaimed loudly, ignoring Shego's implication. "And I didn't even know some of them were interested in girls anyway!"

"Hey, isn't that good?" Shego snickered, her voice full of mirth. "You're good looking enough to play for the other team."

"Sheila!" Kim recoiled in horror as she glared at her chortling friend. "You know I don't have a problem with lesbians or bisexuals, but, c'mon... I'm dating Ron!"

"Oh well, I'm just saying," Shego smiled amusedly at the red-head's embarrassment. "Anyway, it's just a small problem that can be easily fixed."

"Says the adult..." Kim muttered under her breath. "My reputation is already ruined. Did you see the way Hope kept glancing at me during practice?"

"Been in here most of today's practice, Kim. But there is one way to beat off all those girls," Shego remarked with a grin. "All you have to do is to stand in the hallways during lunch hour, and make out with Ron until Mr. Barkin comes along and gives the both of you detention. That way, you get your reputation back, and you get a great make out session with Ron."

"What?" Kim looked wide-eyed at the woman. "Get detention? But cheerleaders don't get detention!"

"Oh well," Shego shrugged. "If you're okay with girls hitting on you..."

"Okay, detention it is then." Kim confirmed with determination, then her face fell, "Wait... Won't they think Ron's my... What's it called, 'beard'?"

Shego laughed out loud at the confused look on Kim's face. After catching her breath, Shego asked breathlessly, "Didn't I say just letting it blow over would be for the best?"

Kim stared silently at her fingernails, apparently unheeding her question.

"C'mon Kim," Shego drummed her fingers on the table. "It's not just the haircut that's bothering you, is it? Just yesterday you thought it looked great too. So it's not about the way your hair looks, is it? It's about Ron, right? You have that look on your face again."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Let me put it to you this way, Ron's the only reason that you can be thrown off your game like this," Shego remarked with a loud sigh. "So what did Ron do this time?"

"Ron's being… You know… Ron… It's like you know how I feel sometimes when Ron gets too close to a girl, right?"

"Yeah, doy," Shego rolled her eyes. "I've had firsthand experience. So who is it this time?"

"No one..." Kim replied meekly. "It's not him this time... It's just... I mean... Whether Ron... Does Ron feel that way about me sometimes?"

"You mean go all green-eyed kung fu on your guy friends?" Shego asked curiously.

"Not that bad," Kim remarked crossly. "But it's just... He doesn't... He doesn't seem to care that people are asking me out on a date..."

"What did you expect him to do?" Shego asked crossly. "Hunt every one of those twelve names down and give them a big hurting?"

"No..." Kim shook her head. "But it would be nice if he showed some sort of concern... Like..." she suddenly clammed up.

"Like?"

"It's nothing..." Kim bit her lower lip. "It's just that... I mean... I'm his girlfriend, right?"

"Stop waffling around and just tell me what's on your mind!"

"Sheila..." Kim looked at the older woman carefully. "Have you ever been in the situation where you know something that you need to tell someone, but if you ever tell that someone what you know, it would change the nature of your relationship and you don't want it to change?"

"Oh boy," Shego mumbled as she glanced in confusion at the teen. "This is something between you and Ron, right?"

"Uh huh," Kim bit her lower lip to keep herself from saying more.

"I'd say talk to someone else," Shego replied airily. "Then when you get a better perspective of things, you can decide whether you want to tell me or not."

"Thing is," Kim mumbled. "I don't want anyone else to know."

"Have you tried Monique? You seem to tell her everything," Shego remarked.

"No, not everything, I don't tell her everything... I'm not even sure whether I should just keep this to myself..." Kim said helplessly.

"I guess you don't have a choice then," Shego replied. "So lay it on me…"

Kim looked unconvinced at Shego. "Sheila, do you remember your promise to me?" Kim asked. "The one where you say you won't steal Ron away from me? Can I trust you on that still?"

"Of course!" Shego exclaimed. "I said it once, I'll say it again. I won't come between what you two have..."

"You sure?" Kim asked uncertainly.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Shego growled. "Now will you get on with it?"

"I know you love Ron as much as I do," Kim took a deep breath as she steeled herself. "Thing is, I think Ron's in love with you too..."

"What?" Shego felt a slow, cold fear creeping up her spine from the pit of her belly.

"It's just that sometimes I feel that Ron seems to treat you a lot more like a girlfriend than me... I realized it when I saw you playing with Hana yesterday, and Ron was watching the two of you while we were doing our homework," Kim explained nervously. "He had this look on his face as he watched you. And I _know_ he was watching you."

"Kim, you're probably just seeing things," Shego replied sounding unnerved as she felt that cold sensation tug at her heartstrings. "Ron's in love with you. Period, full stop. There's no way he'd look at anyone else, much less me."

"At first, I thought so too," Kim mumbled softly. "But then other things start to make sense to me. Y'know... Like how he enjoys your company as a friend, and he talks to you about anything on his mind. We haven't been... That close, as friends, since we started dating... I know some of it's my fault, but..." Kim took a deep breath and continued, "Then that day, when you two were talking under the blanket; it used to be something between me and Ron only. And he was really worried about you when you wouldn't come down and eat after you found out about your clone..."

"Hey," Shego interrupted her in mid-sentence. "Ron's just being a good friend, nothing more."

"But he cares more for you than me!" Kim cried out. "Look at all those things he has done for you!"

"Look, I'm just sure that you're overlooking the attention he showers on you," Shego remarked with a lump in her throat. "It's not like he's shown any sort of affection..."

"Now look who's overlooking Ron's attention..." Kim muttered, stopping herself before she followed that train of thought. "Anyway, there's that kiss..." Kim replied quietly as she studied Shego's face for any cracks in her demeanor.

"What kiss?" Shego could hear her voice tremble at the question.

"You know, when you two came to rescue me," Kim replied.

"Oh, that kiss..." Shego said lamely. "That was a long time ago... Let's just leave it alone, okay?"

"It's starting to come back clearer to me now," Kim recounted from her memory. "There was this loud explosion... Then you two were huddling over me, and you look at Ron, and Ron looked at you. Then you two started kissing ..." Kim squeezed her eyes tight, as she stifled a tear. "Ron and I have only ever kissed like that once or twice..."

"No!" Shego replied a little louder than she intended. "That's _not_ true. Not for a minute. Kim, I know you have issues with me having feelings for Ron, but trust me, it's completely one-sided..."

"Is it?" Kim asked, opening her reddened eyes. "How could you be so certain that Ron doesn't have feelings for you? Did you ask him?"

"No, we've never talked about anything like that," Shego replied hastily. "But I know, okay? I just know..."

"I want to ask him so bad," Kim interrupted, ignoring Shego's protests. "I just want to hear the truth from him. I know that if I ask something like that, he'd lie to me just to protect my feelings. But I really want to know..."

"Why, Kim? What does it matter?" Shego begged, desperation edging slightly into her voice

"Don't you want to know?" Kim asked in surprise. "Don't you want to know if he returns your feelings?"

"Yeah, maybe…" Shego sighed as she glanced down at her hands. "But then what? If he says no, things would be awkward between us. If he says yes, then… I just don't want to think about it." She stared into Kim's eyes, not bothering to hide her emotions from the red-head. "Nothing good will come of this. I just wish that I didn't love him because I might end up hurting him, you, myself and everyone else around us. I mean, what would you do if Ron loves me?"

"I... I'm not sure myself," Kim shook her head as she tried to imagine her life without Ron. "Maybe break up with him?"

"I won't let you do that!" Shego insisted firmly. "You're not sacrificing yourself for my sake."

"But..." Kim bit her lip as she took a deep breath. "But if Ron really loves you and I'm just a crutch..."

"No, you are _nothing_ like that!" Shego interrupted her, with a tinge of anger rising in her voice. "I may have only been in one decent relationship in my life, but I know enough to know that you two hold something special! So stop mocking me with your relationship and just be happy with what you have okay?"

"I don't..." Kim stared silently at Shego after the outburst, tears threatening at the corners of her eyes, stammering helplessly, "That's not... I didn't... I'm..."

Taking a deep breath, Shego clenched her fists tight as she spoke, "Kim, I didn't mean to... I'm sorry... It's just that sometimes I don't think you know how lucky you are... Ron's a great guy, and he's in love with you. You two have a solid relationship. I couldn't even give you a run for your money if I was your age and without my dysfunctional past and freakish complexion. So don't worry about it. At the end of the day, you are the only one for him."

"I... I don't know, Shego, but... What about you?" Kim asked hesitantly.

"I don't know yet," Shego sighed as she gave Kim a reassuring smile. "Find my own guy I guess. Or wait until you get tired of Ron..."

"Sheila, I'm just not sure..." Kim began slowly. "It's just... The way he looks at you... I'm sure it means something... But I don't know how to talk about it with him..."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll stay away from him, okay?" Shego offered.

"Doesn't help much," Kim muttered under her breath. "You live in the same house as him..."

"Hey, do you want me to move out?" Shego joked. "Alhough... Global Justice has me pegged to you guys, so I can't go anywhere without one or both of you."

"No... No... That's not what I meant... He's your friend, Sheila... He... I don't want to force you to make that decision, but..." Kim sighed in defeat. "Yeah, maybe... I dunno, I just wish..."

"That we weren't so close?" Shego finished the rest of the sentence for her.

"Yeah, among other things," Kim sighed. "I don't mean as friends, not even... Not even living there, or even the feelings you have, it's just..."

"You know what I wish for?" Shego sat back as she looked at Kim. "I wish that Ron and I can start our own family." The look on Kim's face was priceless as she stared slack-jawed at Shego. The older woman could only smile bemusedly as Kim's jaw tried to work itself back into place, as it closed and opened like a goldfish. "No, it's not what you think..." Shego reassured the red-head. "I can wish it with all my heart, but it will never come true. Ron's your boyfriend, and most likely going to be your husband till death. And I... I can't even have kids..."

"Why?" Kim gulped in shock. "Is it because of your powers?"

"Well, no, not directly," Shego let a small sad smile linger on her lips. "It's supposed to supercharge my body, and I heal really fast. But when I became a hero, I was pretty inexperienced at first and gotten beat around pretty bad..."

"How..."

"Some musclehead extranorm we fought at a construction site threw me against an upright I-beam... I kinda hit crotch-first, then crumpled up and fell about thirty feet. Cracked my pelvis and ribs," Shego explained. "It hurt like hell, and I bled a lot down there. My healing powers weren't up to snuff yet and my uterus just decided to... Die..." She looked up with a ghost of a smile on her face, "I was slated for a hysterectomy, since the tissues were dying even with my enhanced healing. But by the time I got to the table, my body had absorbed the damaged material to repair my ribs and pelvis, and left me with a uterus that allowed me a monthly cycle, but was otherwise barren..."

"So is that why you're so close to Hana?" Kim ventured with a sorrowful smile.

"If I could have a daughter, I would imagine her to be like Hana," Shego smiled to herself.

"Oh, Sheila..." Kim whispered. "I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be," Shego shook her head flatly. "Thing I'm trying to say here is, wishes are only wishes because we have no control over them... But you can always work around them to get what you want." Shego waited for Kim to nod before continuing, "That said, you should talk to Ron about your fears, and let him reassure you that he doesn't harbor any feelings for me."

"But what if he does?"

"Kim, I would bet you dollars to Nacos that he doesn't," Shego insisted. "And if he does, I'll move to your house, okay? No questions asked. Talk to him, after all the only person who can reassure you is Ron."

"I guess," Kim felt conflicted by her suggestion. "But... I don't think you moving will matter much, y'know?"

"So, it's no big deal, either way?" Shego asked, sighing as Kim nodded. "For all purposes, he's already 'married' to you. He's... Oh hang on..." Shego glanced at her cell phone that had just buzzed, indicating that she had just received a message. With a furrowed brow she glanced at the screen, in apparent deep thought. After pushing a few buttons, she set it aside and turned her attention back to Kim. "Sorry about that..." Shego explained. "That was Betts."

"What does she want? Another mission?" Kim whipped out her Kimmunicator to check if Wade had tried to contact her.

"No, nothing of that sort. She wouldn't dare ask me to do a mission for her," Shego replied darkly. "She just wants to have a drink with me."

"Oh," Kim looked at the older woman who appeared to be distracted. "Now?"

"In about thirty minutes," Shego replied, letting her annoyance show in her voice. "Damn that woman just can't leave me alone."

"Maybe she wants to apologize for the way she's treated you?" Kim suggested hopefully.

"The day Betts apologizes is the day you'll find me cleaning my boots with my tongue," Shego ranted. "That woman has no sense of decency! God dammit, who does she think she is to tag me with a STEB like that?"

"So are you going to meet her?" Kim asked, more out of concern than curiosity.

"Like I have a choice," Shego muttered grumpily as she stood up from her desk. Snatching her car keys, she gestured to Kim, "C'mon Kim, let's go look for Ron. I'll drop the two of you home before I go and meet up with that bloodsucking bitch."

"Are you sure? We could always walk home ourselves," Kim replied uneasily.

"On second thought, maybe I'll just leave you two alone," Shego replied with a smirk, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. "You two need some _alone_ time together. Maybe you're just sexually frustrated. I'm sure you'd feel a lot better about your relationship with Ron after a good roll in the hay."

"What? No!" Kim squawked in embarrassment. "How can you say that?"

Shego let herself enjoy a hearty laugh at Kim's expense. "If you guys do, I promise not to say anything to your parents," she gave the red-head a conspiratorial wink.

"No..." Kim moaned in horror as she picked up her book bag and got up from her seat. "C'mon, Sheila... You know we haven't done that yet... We're just not ready yet..."

"It's rare to see such mature kids such as you these days," Shego muttered with a nod and an ironic smile, before giving Kim a gentle push out the office. "Just talk to Ron, okay? Focus on building your relationship and don't worry about me."

"Yeah, I guess," Kim nodded her head.

"Oh yeah, and before I forget," Shego suddenly paused in mid-step, as an old, familiar smirk crossed her face. "There's the matter of your punishment for blowing up at the cheer team. First of all, you have to write personal letters of apology to each and every one of your team mates explaining yourself and ask for their forgiveness..."

"I guess I deserve that," Kim nodded her head solemnly.

"That's not all," Shego remarked. "You and Bonnie, with Tara's help, will have to work together to redesign the cheer routine. I agree with her that what you have right now is pretty complicated..."

"What! No way!" Kim raised her voice, sounding hurt. "It's not that difficult, I just added a couple things to our state routine from last year! We can do it! This routine will win us the regionals!"

"That's the issue," Shego narrowed her eyes. "You're too ambitious, and there's only three other cheerleaders that can really keep up with you... Bonnie will keep you grounded a little by pointing out what the _team_ is capable of, instead of what _you_ are capable of."

"This is so unfair!" Kim complained. "I can do this myself!"

"No, it's not," Shego said firmly. "She will keep you more... Focused. Besides, you can take this as a chance to get to know each other better." Shego's smirk lessened into a more normal smile as Kim grimaced at the idea, "Besides, you might find Bonnie a little different than what you used to know. Though Tara will be there to make sure you two don't kill each other..."

Kim muttered angrily to herself. "I don't need Bonnie to tell me what to do..."

"And if this doesn't work out..." Shego added warningly. "I'll have to reconsider your suitability as captain. Kim, you need to be punished severely, and in a way that's visible to the cheer squad. That way, you can start rebuilding the trust the squad has in you."

"Do I have to work with Bonnie?" Kim whined. "I'd take anyone else... Even Hope..."

Shego let out a little laugh, "So a horny lesbian over Bonnie, any day of the week? Just suck it up, Kim... This is supposed to be a punishment; you aren't supposed to like it. Besides, it's only for a couple weeks, 

until you guys get a new routine to practice for the regionals. And I'll be here if you have any problems with Bonnie."

"Fine!" Kim reluctantly assented.

"Atta girl," Shego beamed at her as she patted Kim's shoulder. "Now, knowing Betts and her drinking, I probably won't be back for dinner... And it might be a good idea not to wait up either..."

Kim waved goodbye to Shego as the older woman retreated down the hallway whistling easily to herself. With a heavy heart, she knew she had to talk to Ron... But after all that Shego had done for her, coupled with the fact that life had never cut her mint-hued friend an even break, Kim could only wish that she could do something for the strange woman who had done so much to help her.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Damn, that's one heck long chapter. Okay, maybe this is just a couple (few, several?) drama chapters all rolled into one and resolved by the end instead of leading on to the next. Well, there's still that confrontation between Shego and Dr. Director and more than a couple of reveals into the sort of friendship they had in the past, but that's in the next chapter.

I'm still not liking this long chapter. It's seriously over 10k words, and it's a long read. Hopefully that'll keep some of you entertained for about a good half an hour or so. But this sort of brings up a little interesting premise, more on the topic of Shego's motherhood. I decided it'll be different this time for Shego, as to the reason for her barrenness. Well, with much convincing by my beta, yeah, let's fault it on an early injury instead of bizarre superpowers.

But I guess we know why Hana's popular in Shego's life. I know I haven't done a chapter with Hana in it for a long time, but there's only so much dialog a baby can say, right? I'll have her back in Chapter 13 I think. Just maybe.

Anyway, yeah, Kim's still a little unsure about her relationship with Ron. And I wonder whether Shego's even right for couple's counseling. But Kim's fears are still there and she has to work them out, especially since her ordeal. It doesn't just vanish, and I guess at the end of the day, Kim would hopefully end up stronger, less jealous and wiser. Well, one out of three would be good enough.

So here it is, some sort of return to normality after the Sheegsy fiasco, and yeah… We'll soon return to our regular programming... Maybe...


	12. Chapter 12

**Advanced warning: I try to refrain from overusing vulgarities in this fic, but I think this is a very adult situation with frayed tempers. And yes, I know I'm pushing the rating.**

* * *

Shego hadn't been to The Hole on 5th ever since... Safe to say it was a long time ago when she did not have a criminal record a mile long. Although the atmosphere of the bar seemed pretty much unchanged, the faces were all different. Steve, her long time favorite bartender had long been gone, and the old crowd who used to hang out around here has sort of morphed and gave way to a much younger crowd. She did turn a few heads, and while she relished the attention, she was in a really bad mood. Or a horrid mood, if the sudden turning away from her scowling face earned were any indication.

And the cause of her bad mood was sitting right there in that familiar booth, with her one good eye tracking Shego's every move the moment she stepped into the bar.

"What do you want?" Shego half-sneered as she approached the table.

"Truce," Betty replied simply as she glanced down at the table in front of her.

Shego snorted when she saw what the leader of Global Justice had prepared in advance for her arrival: ten shot glasses filled to the rim with a deep, amber liquid, arranged in two neat rows of five each. Five for her, and five for the woman who sat so calmly down across her. "That's a start," Shego grunted in grudging approval, as she slid into the seat opposite Betty.

The two women picked up a shot glass each, clinking them together in a silent toast before slamming the drink down their throats in unison.

"Fah!" Shego made a face as she grimaced at the taste. "Tequila! Ugh, I still hate this shit."

Wiping her lips, Betty smirked at the green-hued woman. "What? Growing old on me already?"

"Fuck you, Betts," Shego snarled. "I just don't get how you can stomach it. Tastes worse than Mexican cat piss." Despite her words, Shego picked up a second shot glass and downed it just as quickly as the first. Looking at the one-eyed woman, Shego asked, "This is going on GJ's tab, right?"

"No," Betty remarked coolly, as she twirled an empty shot glass in her hand. "Remember you owe me a couple of drinks?"

"Figures," Shego grumbled to herself.

"I also thought that if this little get-together was paid for by GJ, then you would think that this is just shoptalk," Betty remarked. "We're just a couple of _friends_ sharing drinks."

Shego immediately picked up on the emphasis on the last phrase. Her scowl immediately deepened as she eyed Betty carefully. "Last I checked we weren't exactly friends..." Shego muttered under her breath.

"Yeah, not since you left Global Justice to go and work for Dr. Drakken," Betty instantly replied. Her features softened as she asked, "God, Sheila, you're still pissed over the STEB thing? You know my hands were tied..."

"Easy for you to say," Shego growled angrily, as she went for her third shot. "So that makes it right to tag me like a wild animal and let me die if things go wrong? Friends don't do that to friends, you know."

"Have you ever thought about it from my fucking point of view?" Betty asked with a skewed eyebrow. "Sheila, I got half a dozen reports complete with hard evidence and lab reports that you did it. Then all I got from you was a weak promise that it wasn't you, as well as Kim, Ron and a few high school students who are barely even aware of your criminal record as character witnesses!"

"Do you know how impossible it was for me to even attempt something like that?" Shego growled, "What, I'm suddenly supposed to be able to teleport some fifteen miles, infiltrate a highly secured location that rivals most top secret military bases, steal something that is under 24 hours surveillance, and then get back to school _just_ in time to teach fifth period gym? I only had a thirty minute break, and that was cut short by ten minutes when a student asked to talk to me about something!"

"You know you are more than capable of doing something like that," Betty answered in a deadpan tone, "You've done the impossible before, and while we don't know exactly how, the evidence is already undeniable that you or your genetic clone was present! And since we**didn't** have any evidence of your genetic double…" Betty stabbed the table to emphasize her next point. "Sheila, _any_ fucking court would have convicted you straight away. Who the fuck would have thought that there was a clone that matched you down to the fingerprints? Last I heard, not even clones can match someone _that_ perfectly..."

"Look here, Betts!" Shego's eyes flared with anger as she half contemplated lighting up her hands to make her point. Instead she hissed under her breath at the one-eyed head of Global Justice. "At least you had the decency to let me go after Reggie without a fucking dog tag and a poison implant! So why not this time? What's different?"

"Y'mean other than the evidence? Because it's Drakken!" Betty snapped back before downing a mouthful of tequila and wiping her lips with a napkin. "You were a _lot_ more loyal to Drakken than you ever were to Global Justice!"

"What? No..." Shego rolled her eyes. "Drakken's a fucking moron!"

"Then why'd you stick with him for so long?" Betty challenged her. "I mean, there has got to be something, right? You stuck with him all this while, so why? Was he _that_ fucking good in bed? Were you in love with him or something? Tell me, what sort of fucking employment benefits did you get from him?"

"What the fuck? It doesn't matter!" Shego raised her voice while trying to keep it quiet, making her voice come out as a shrill whisper. "I told you I quit him months ago!"

"You never said why either," Betty pointed out coolly. "There are a lot of things you never talked about! So how am I to know I can trust you?"

"I told you, Kim, and Ron all why! He left me to die under a collapsed lair! And they did not put a fucking gun to my head!" Shego snarled as she got up from her seat angrily. "Look, you've been nothing but a bitch to me since Sheegsy popped up, so wh-..."

"Fuck you, Shego!" Betty commanded her sternly. "Just sit the fuck down!"

"Why should I?" Shego growled. "Don't you ever get tired of telling people what to do?"

"Just sit the fuck down," Betty ordered her again, her eyes softening somewhat.

Glaring angrily at the one-eyed woman, Shego remained standing and reached for her fourth shot and downed it quickly, never taking her eyes off Betty for a moment.

"You still don't fucking realize, do you?" Betty asked coldly. "We already had a solid case to put you in jail! And don't think for a moment that just because you're with Team Possible that your criminal record and outstanding warrants have been wiped!"

"So?" Shego snorted with contempt. "I already know I'm on what amounts to an internationally recognized probation, Betts! What, you're going to throw me in prison now just because I wouldn't listen to you?"

"How often do we implant people with STEBs?" Betty asked suddenly.

"Hardly ever..." Shego muttered reluctantly, "It was a final safety measure for recalcitrant and dangerous prisoners being transported between maximum security prisons, and specific circumstances as determined by the discretion of GJ leadership... Which means _you_, Betts!"

"I have superiors, too, Sheila... I told them that if, indeed, you weren't there, that you'd want to go with Team Possible. So it was the only way I could have let you go on that mission with them..." Betty replied evenly. "You seem to forget that in the eyes of the world, you are still a criminal. I've been giving you so many fucking second chances that you couldn't even do this one thing for me!"

"What second chances? You planted a fucking time bomb in me!" Shego growled. "Why didn't you just put a bullet in my head?"

"You've been in worse situations than that," Betty explained. "It was just a minor inconvenience to you. It's not like you've avoided risking your life before..."

"Fuck you, Betts!" Shego snarled. "Threats like these usually come from the fucking enemy, not friends."

Betty raised an eyebrow at the curious, sudden use of the term, but she decided to let it slip. "It still was the right thing to do. You know the rules. I just didn't expect you to be such a fucking whiny bitch about it or hold a grudge over it."

"I thought you were on my side," Shego replied coldly. Glancing at her last shot glass, she raised her hand to signal the server for a refill.

"Still am on your fucking side, Sheila," Betty snapped angrily. "Until you decide to go back to Drakken again."

"What makes you think that I'll go back and work for him?" Shego asked nastily.

"I don't know! That's the whole fucking problem! I don't fucking know what he's got over you that you worked for him for so goddamn long!" Betty finally raised her voice, a signal she hoped Shego would get to quiet down a bit. "So why, Sheila? Start explaining why! Why did you ditch Global Justice, your life, your family and your friends to go and work with Drakken?"

Shego stared silently at her drink before gulping it down. "Shows how little you know me," Shego drawled, as she slammed the shot glass down. "Do you know what I had to lose by working for Drakken? Nothing... Nothing at all... I didn't need my fucking brothers, and I didn't have any fucking friends at Global Justice."

"So your job meant nothing to you? Being a hero and fighting villains?" Betty asked. "And you didn't have me, Web, Julia, Swede, or anyone else?"

"I sure damn well didn't feel like a fucking hero at Global Justice..." Shego paused for a moment as a tall man with an apron came and laid down another fresh round of shots for the both of them. Nodding to him in approval, Shego instantly seized another shot of tequila, slowly sitting down after downing the harsh liquid. "You know what happened... Doesn't matter how many lives I saved... I just couldn't save the one that mattered..."

"And so you decided to help Drakken take over the world?" Betty asked. "And in the process destroy more lives like how your life was destroyed? My fiancée was killed that same day, as well as fifteen others... You don't see me trying to take over the world."

"Fuck, no!" Shego grated. "What the fuck? It was just a damned job! Drakken was too fucking incompetent to take over the world! It's a hobby to him! I just... I just wanted to be left alone, and it was the way I liked it. Drakken didn't bother me, and occasionally I went out and stretch my legs and pick up some weird invention for him... And besides, I didn't see any of my so called friends offering help!"

"You could have just gone on vacation, a long leave of absence," Betty pointed out. With an uncharacteristic twinge of sarcasm, she added under her breath. "It's not like you told me what you were doing when you said you didn't want to burden any of us with your grief. You basically told us that you wanted to be left alone!"

"Yeah, whatever." Shego drawled, "Except that if I hadn't just left after telling you that, you'd be there bugging me to come back to work every single day,"

"Fuck you, Sheila," Betty crossed her arms. "Just... Fuck you. Did you think that I wouldn't understand? That I _didn't_ understand? I went through damn near the same thing as you did. I was on leave for over a month, and no one asked me back during that entire time, goddammit! I thought we could count on each other to get through it, but you just got the fuck out of there! God fucking dammit, Shego! What the hell were you thinking? Drakken? Fuck, did you have a fucking death wish or something?"

"The truth is, yeah," Shego grated in a quiet rage, catching the other woman in surprise. "I just wanted someone to fucking kill me, okay? Happy now?"

"What the fuck?" Betty muttered in honest shock.

"I wanted someone to put a bullet in my head," Shego raised her hand and pointed at her temple. "Ka-pow..."

"Why?" Betty asked in surprise.

"You know how worthless you feel when everything goes wrong? Like you're not meant to be happy?" Shego asked. "I mean, all my life, I keep asking myself why I have these fucking powers. And then there's my jackass of a brother telling me that we are suppose to help people... And then somehow, I'm supposed to live the rest of my life in service of other people..."

"So you didn't want to use your powers for good?" Betty asked.

"Fuck yeah!" Shego raised her voice. "I did, but... I mean, what good did it ever do for me? All it did was turn me into a freak, ruin my life, and when it came down to saving Sam ... It was just fucking useless... It's just somehow... Nothing good is supposed to happen to me..."

"I don't get the death wish part," Betty asked. "Even if your life was shit up to that point... Why?"

"I just..." Shego sighed as she spoke. "I just thought I'd be a little closer to Sam if I died the same way she did..."

Betty sipped her tequila slowly. Looking at the downcast green-hued woman in new light, she spoke, "But you're not dead."

"Yeah..." Shego shrugged as she leaned back against her seat. "Still not dead..."

"You did almost die," Betty offered.

"Uh huh..." Shego sighed as she nodded her head.

"So what's next for you? Try to get yourself killed again?" Betty asked.

"Maybe not," Shego mumbled grudgingly.

"Ron?" Betty asked with a knowing tone in her voice.

"Uh huh," Shego allowed herself a gentle smile as she thought of the blond boy. "And his family, of course. I just wish... I wish I had a family like theirs... Or even Kimmie's..."

"Marry him then," Betty teased the green-hued woman. Taking a good mouthful of tequila, she grinned as she watched Shego blush at the suggestion. "You know you want to," she leered. "Then you'll really be part of the family."

"And fuck you too," Shego growled, as this time she sipped her tequila slowly. The taste wasn't as much an issue for her now. "What about you? Seeing anyone new?"

"I'm fucking married to my work," Betty pointed out bitterly. Jerking her head slightly in Shego's direction, she asked, "How about you?"

"I'm a fucking reformed criminal," Shego riposted. "How do you think that works out?"

"Sucks to be you," Betty muttered. And as an afterthought, she added, "And me..."

"Touché," Shego toasted to her words as she sipped her drink a little more. "Funny though, thought we used to be the hottest babes in GJ. What happened?"

"Life," Betty replied nonchalantly. "GJ's a shithole, sucks you in and chews you up. You're lucky if it even spits you out. Who wants to date a one-eyed woman anyway?"

"Who wants to date a green-skinned woman with superpowers that can burn off a man's balls?" Shego returned immediately, as she took another drink.

"I say touché to that too," Betty raised her shot glass. "And I'll drink to that..." Without waiting for Shego to raise her glass, Betty had already downed her eighth shot for the night. "So how are things between you and Ron?"

"What things?" Shego asked innocently.

"Don't play stupid..." Betty replied, as she narrowed her eyes. In a slurred tone, she asked, "Fucked him yet?"

"He's only eighteen," Shego remarked, feeling a warm glow on her face that she excused immediately as the alcohol. "Besides, you know I never fuck someone that's in a good relationship..."

Betty shrugged indifferently, "As if something like that actually stopped you more than two or three times," Betty drew an evil smirk as she noticed Shego's blushing face. "You jumped Web's sister like a bitch in heat."

"Don't even fucking go there," Shego warned dangerously, barely suppressing her plasma powers. "Don't bring up her name."

"Right," Betty waved off Shego's concerns dismissively. Leering at the green-hued woman, she offered, "You know about the Ron Factor project? We had _complete_ and _total _surveillance on the guy for a week. I could get you copies if you want."

"What the fuck? Are you a fucking pervert?" Shego was taken aback by the brazen offer. She stared at her drink for a little while, trying to avoid coming into eye contact with the grinning woman. Finally, curiosity got the better of her and she asked, in a confused, almost shocked tone, "Even in the showers?"

The smirk on Betty's face said it all. "Now look who's the fucking pervert here," she crowed gleefully.

"Fuck off, I'm a teacher and he's my student, and if Kim ever found out..." Shego growled as she tilted her face forward, hiding behind the veiled threat and her hair. "So what about you? Any men in your life?"

"Being at the top's a lonely place," Betty mused out loud. "Besides, all the new faces that come in are half my age..."

"C'mon, there's got to be someone outside GJ," Shego remarked. "Friend of a friend, kinda thing?"

"Ah hell, no," Betty grumbled. "Does it look like I have a social life? Not huge on the whole blind date thing."

"You sure?" she asked as the little proverbial light bulb in Shego's head illuminated. With an evil smirk, she said, "I know a guy who teaches at my school. He's a little rough around the edges, but I bet he's _right_ up your alley. He's a military man..."

"Steve Barkin, right?" Betty said with a loud groan. "Oh please, I thought you'd do better than try and pawn off one of your ex-boyfriends..."

"He's not my ex..." Shego replied defensively. "We just had one date..."

"Yeah, yeah, while you were cuckoo with the... The... That device-thing-that-turned-you-good..." Betty waved her hand lazily as she went on absent-mindedly, "If you aren't interested in him, what makes you think I'd be? All I have to say about that plaid suit is, I'd rather skin road kill and wear mangled fur at a PETA rally than date a man that put on that travesty."

"What plaid suit?" Shego asked guardedly.

"The one he wore on your first date," Betty explained herself.

"What? You were spying on our date?" Shego started to feel the anger surge in her again.

"Woah there, Sheila..." Betty remarked lightly. "It was just routine surveillance thing. I picked up a copy of the video from the security camera at the restaurant."

"Right..." Shego replied sounding unconvinced. "But I don't believe for a moment that there's no guy in your life. You got to have some suitors out there. C'mon, someone has either had a fucking death wish or wants an early promotion... Who knows someone might even fuck you just on a dare..." Shego leered, as she poked fun at the leader of Global Justice.

"Oh fuck no," Betty groaned. "You won't believe who tried to hit on me today..."

"Who?" Shego raised her eyebrows curiously.

"Motor-Fucking-Ed."

Shego gave Betty a long and hard look before she began to crack up. Laughing loudly as she smacked the table with her open palm. After a moment, she finally managed to gasp out between guffaws, "Did he talk about his highway of love?"

"Oh yes," Betty remarked dryly. "What were his words again? Gas station on his highway of love? What the hell was that about? More like fucking roadkill..."

Roaring with laughter, Shego wiped a tear aside with the back of her hand, "Betts, you should _definitely_ fuck that guy!"

"What? And listen to him talk about his mullet? C'mon, the guy's definitely overcompensating for his gearstick of love," Betty groaned.

"You would be his hood ornament," Shego snickered. "Right next to his fuzzy dice. All primped up with the eighties hairdo to match the mullet with large loop earrings and horn-rimmed sunglasses. Hey! You'd be called Motor Betts!" Shego laughed raucously at the name. "Motor Betts! It suits you!"

"Hardy har har," Betty drawled. "Just for that, I'm making fucking sure you're going to wake up with the biggest fucking hangover of your life."

"Bring it on, Motor Betts," Shego teased with a twinkle in her eye.

With a deadly look in her eye, Betty signaled to the server to just bring them a fifth of tequila. Watching Shego squarely in the eye, she slammed back another shot of the potent liquor. She'd lost count of the number of drinks already, but _damned_ if she was going to let Shego out drink her this time.

* * *

Ron leaned against the trunk as he peered up into the tree house in his backyard. He'd just received a call from Kim telling him to meet her here after his football practice. She didn't say what it was about, but he supposed it must be pretty important as they would usually hang out at Bueno Nacho after school.

"KP?" Ron called up. "You there?"

"Come on up, Ron," her voice floated down from the tree house.

With a shrug, Ron gingerly climbed the ladder up into the tree house, being extra careful and testing his weight on each rung as he had for the last couple years. While they had been up here several times since they'd started dating, he still didn't want to risk damaging the old playhouse. After all, the tree house has been a significant part of his childhood memories.

"Heya, KP," Ron called her name with a smile as he poked his head through the hole in the floor. He cocked his head while he looked at his girlfriend, who was curled up on the sofa at one end of the tree house. She was clutching a pillow rather tightly as she waited for him, and while he couldn't help but think how adorable she looked, he knew something was bothering her, and kept his tongue in check. Ron tentatively walked over to her and planted a light peck on her cheek, before sliding down on the couch next to her and putting his arm around his shoulders.

"Ron," Kim beamed at him as she snuggled a little closer into his arms. She tilted her face towards him and together they shared a passionate kiss. Finally, breaking apart for a breather, she gave him a long searching look with distant, clouded emotion in her eyes.

"What is it, KP?" Ron asked gently as he noticed the worry in her eyes. "Something wrong? Bonnie giving you trouble at cheerleading practice again?"

"No, it's not Bonnie," Kim shook her head. Brushing the hair out of her face, she let her gaze fall downwards as she seem to hold her knees tightly against her chest and squeeze a little harder. "Not really... I have to work with her and Tara on a new routine, but that's not important..."

"Then what's bothering you, Kim?" Ron coaxed her softly.

"Ron..." Kim started, before clamping up by biting her lip. She looked pleadingly at him as she willed herself to bring the words forward. "Ron... You know I want you to be happy, right?"

A chill went down Ron's spine as his eyes opened wide. His jaw worked as he gaped at his girlfriend, "Kim, you're not breaking up with me... Are you?"

"No! No..." Kim denied fervently and as to show her sincerity, she leaned into Ron's shoulder and snaked an arm around his waist and giving him a tight squeeze. "I love you very much..."

"I love you too, Kim," Ron breathed a sigh of relief as he nuzzled his cheek against her red tresses. "Then if you're not breaking up with me, what is it?"

"Ron," Kim swallowed a lump in her throat as she sought to find the words for the situation. "Do you really love me?"

"Of course, I do!" Ron exclaimed, starting to become confused by the conversation. "You're my best friend/girlfriend! I would never stop loving you."

"That's nice," Kim allowed herself a little smile. A little warm glow was starting to spread through her as she played back those words in her mind.

"C'mon, Kim," Ron touched her arm wrapped around her lightly with his fingers as he gently begged. "Talk to me... What's bugging you?"

"Ron... Do you... Is there someone else that you love besides me?" Kim asked slowly, trying to enunciate each word clearly.

"Of course! There's Rufus, and my mom and dad, Hana, Mr. and Mrs. Dr. P..." Ron immediately recited. "They're like family! Maybe the tweebs too..."

"No... I mean, do you..." Kim gulped down hard as she struggled to speak. "Do you... Love someone else like you love me?"

"What? Kim, why ar-..." Ron was suddenly cut short by the look on Kim's face.

Almost in a deathly whisper, she asked, "What about Sheila?"

"What about her?" Ron replied in a confused manner.

"Are you in love with her?" Kim asked, her gaze focused on his face, studying his every reaction to the question.

Ron took a deep sigh of breath as he looked at his girlfriend earnestly. "KP, you're my girlfriend and I really do love you. I'm so lucky to have you already and I know a good thing when I got one."

"You do love her, don't you?" Kim asked softly, as tears started welling in her eyes.

"I... I..." Ron stammered. "KP, c'mon, can we drop this, please? It doesn't matter what I feel for her."

"Then say it!" Kim demanded louder. "Say that you don't love her!"

"I... I..." Ron stammered as he glanced helplessly around the tree house. With a dejected sigh, he spoke, "Kim... I don't want to... I _can't_ lie to you..."

"I thought so," Kim replied in a bland, neutral tone, pulling away from him slightly to hug her knees tightly to her chest. She lowered her head against them, hiding her face from Ron.

"Kim... Listen to me, Kim..." Ron begged as he shook her slightly. "I had feelings, but it was just a crush! Nothing more! I just... Yes, really nice to be around when stopped trying to be evil, she's attractive, beautiful even... But I let it go, she's a frien-..."

"It's okay, Ron, I know it's not just a crush... You don't love someone if you have a crush on them," Kim mumbled pulling away from his arms and sitting up ramrod straight. Trying her best to hold her own tears back, she declared with a clear voice, "It's okay Ron, I know she's a very attractive woman. And she's in love with you too. You should be with her..."

"What? Kim! I don't care!" Ron exclaimed loudly as he got up to eye level with her. He didn't understand why Kim was acting the way she was. A sharp pain seized his chest, worse than any he'd received on a mission with her. He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping the contact would calm her down so he could figure out what was happening. "It doesn't matter! Why are you being like this?"

"Ron," Kim looked up at him with red eyes, blinking hard as she tried her best to smile for him. "It's okay... If you two love each other, you should be together..."

"No!" Ron protested as he held her tighter than before, pressing her up against his body. "Kim... Don't talk like that, please... You're my girlfriend, and that means you're my number one girl..."

"But... But you're with me out of pity! Do you remember when you first told me you love me? When I was weak and broken, after falling in love with some… Some artificial _thing _created by Drakken to mess with my mind!" Kim cried out loud, wrenching herself away from that all-loving, warm embrace. "You did what any best friend would do; you tried everything to cheer me up! I was on the rebound and you were just there! I mean, is this what we are? Just a couple of confused kids who have all our emotions 

mixed up and we were just caught up in the moment after the Moodulator and beating Drakken and the prom, and I..."

"Kim, what's going on?" Ron asked suddenly, as he placed a finger on her lips. "What's wrong..."

"I..." Kim paused as she reflected on his words. "I don't know... I've worried about this since... Since after that first kiss..."

"But you're the girl who can do anything!" Ron exclaimed. "You save the world regularly, you foil plans to take over the world, and you still manage to maintain a 4.0 GPA! Kim, I've never seen you like this..."

"This... I..." Kim squeezed her eyes tightly as she inhaled deeply before whispering, "This _is_ me, Ron... All that is just what everyone else sees... What I _have_ to let them see…"

"Kim," Ron interrupted her thoughts with a sigh, his now slack hand resting heavily on her shoulder. "I didn't know you felt that way… I'm sorry… I guess I never told you how important you are to me or how much I love you."

"I know that!" Kim cried out. "I know you love me, Ron, I..."

"But... I don't know about that, KP... Do you?" Ron sighed in frustration. "If you knew, would you try and break up with me? If you love me as much as I think you do, then why?"

"Ron, please!" Kim begged, her voice almost cracking with the emotions flowing through her being, "I just can't explain it!" Kim shook her head violently, suddenly angry at the love of her life. "I just know that there's always been something wrong with us being together. It's just not fair for me to let you give up the person you love because of my own weakness! I just want you to be happy."

The blood drained from Ron's face as he stared thunderstruck at the emotional red-head. Words escape in a whisper from his dried mouth, "There's something wrong with us being together?"

"Yes!" Kim cried out. "I was confused and lost at the moment, and you were just there. I've been going through my head, over and over again. If it wasn't for Drakken, Sheila, Eric the synthodrone, or even Bonnie egging me on to date the latest golden hottie… I don't think…"

The rest of Kim's words went unheard, as Ron started to feel the room reeling around him. He shook his head and tried to focus on Kim's words. Yet somehow, as Kim spoke, his vision of her changed; her stature became more diminutive as she spoke, as though she was moving further away from him. The more he looked, the less she seemed like the Kim he knew.

She looked lost, alone, and broken, more so than she had been when Reginald Chesterfield had almost raped her. She looked just like she did just before summer break, when she was duped by Eric, the synthodrone Drakken created for the sole purpose of destroying her. The fiery passion and soaring confidence in her eyes were gone, leaving behind a scared teenager. But the implications behind her words were not lost on him.

His voice turned deadly cold as he asked, "You mean you would never have considered dating me if not for the lil' Diablos incident?"

Kim looked up in horror as she realized what he must have thought. The fear, mingling with the thought of her losing her best friend forever, hit her right in the gut, long enough for Ron to edge another word in.

"So what are you saying, Kim? Dating me was a mistake? A moment of weakness? A pity date?" Ron asked quietly, fixing his eyes squarely on Kim's widening emerald eyes.

"No!" Kim managed to croak out her protest, as she reached up and caressed the sides of Ron's face. "No… It's nothing like that! Nothing like that at all! I just don't want you to regret being with me... I'm... I'm not worth someone like you, Ron! I'm... All I'm worth is a pity date..." Kim hung her head low, unable to bear the hurt, angry expression on Ron's face. "I'm just... I don't deserve you..."

"Kim!" Ron snapped harshly, his face slipping into a shocked expression, "Kim, I know I haven't been the best boyfriend, and I know that I could have shown more love to you, but... If this is because of something I did or didn't do, you could at least tell it to my face instead of telling me that it's not my fault and it's yours…"

"Ron, stop it, please!" Kim begged, her voice almost cracking with the emotions flowing through her being. Kim shook her head violently. "This is about me! Me being weak, confused and undeserving of a someone like you. Listen to me, Ron… Your happiness is far more important than someone like me... Sheila is a beautiful and strong woman who is in love with you and you should be with her!"

"No..." he whispered, earning a flinch from Kim at the cold tone of his voice. "_You_ stop it…"

"Ron, wha-..." Kim started, only to be cut off by Ron clamping his hand firmly over her mouth.

"What is this really about then, Kim?" Ron asked angrily. "Is it because you always have to sacrifice yourself for other people's sake? Just for one moment… Just for one moment, Kim… Stop trying to play the hero and listen to me. This isn't you, Kim! The Kim Possible I know knows what she wants, and does something about it! Are you going to just give me up like that?"

Kim shook her head mutely, as she pushed away his offending hand. "Ron, I've thought about it already…"

"No!" Ron interrupted her again. "Think about it _again_, Kim. Are you just going to give me up just because you think someone else deserves me? Kim, I'm supposed to be the one having doubts about our relationship!_I'm_ the one who's supposed to be saying to myself that _I_ don't deserve to be in a relationship with this beautiful, kind and caring woman who's supposed to be way, way, _way_ out of my league!"

"Ron, you don't understand!" Kim cried, "You're... You're better than anything that's ever happened to me, but... But you deserve better! I... Why can't you let me let you be happy? Why can-..."

"That's it, Kim…" Ron finally put his foot down. "If you aren't going to be the sensible one in this relationship, then I'll just have to step up to the job! And I'm starting by saying that we're not breaking up! Because _I_ don't want to, and _you _don't want to, and _Shego_ definitely doesn't want you to either! And since you're so concerned of Shego, how would _she_ feel if you broke up with me just for her sake?"

"But Ron, listen to me here…"

"Kim..." Ron cut her off sternly. "Ever since we were little kids, you've always told me what to do. You always knew what was best for me. And most times? I'll admit that you were right... But this time, I swear Kim, you could not be _further_ from the truth. Look at me, Kim…" He urged her as her eyes flinched away in guilt. "I have never regretted calling you my girlfriend even for one moment. Never! Unless you've felt that way about me…"

Kim shook her head numbly. As she opened her mouth to speak again, he quickly pressed a finger on her lips.

"I am very angry at you," Ron spoke seriously, watching his girlfriend avert her eyes in shame. "Very angry…" He took a calming breath before speaking again, his voice rising slightly despite trying to remain calm. "Do you honestly think this isn't what I've always wanted? I am in love with you, Kim! And I have been, for the longest time ever! Not just since last summer, not just since we kissed, none of that! I've been in love with you long before most guys realize girls don't have cooties! I was just too stupid to recognize that!"

"But what about Sheila?"

"Don't worry about her right now!" Ron exclaimed as he stared intently at his girlfriend. "Kim! This isn't about what Sheila wants or what I want! This is about what you want! You, personally, yourself! I know you want everyone to be happy, but you can't make everyone happy, especially not at your own expense! I won't allow that!"

"But I want you to be happy…"

"Dammit, Kim, you _do_ make me happy! Like I said a minute ago stop being the hero for one goddamn minute and think!" Ron raised his voice, as he gripped Kim's shoulders. "Think about yourself. What do you want? What makes you happy?"

"I…" Kim bit her lower lip, as she clamped down to prevent her protests from escaping her mouth. "I don't know…"

"Think, Kim…" Ron whispered, drawing her closer to him, "What makes you happy?"

Kim stared up at his earnest brown eyes and his mussed blonde hair. Studying his freckles, she reached up a finger to gingerly trace them across his face. She felt his hands holding on to her shoulders, strong and firm, and she was suddenly struck by an idle thought that she didn't want him to let go. She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of his hands on her shoulders, his eyes watching her closely and his heart beating so closely to hers. She had her answer already.

"Lots of things," she whispered to herself as a glimmer of a smile danced on her lips. "But mostly, you..."

"Huh?" Ron asked lamely as he stared at the ghost of a smile on Kim's face.

"You make me happy," Kim replied with a little more conviction in her voice. As she opened her eyes, she saw his beaming face, a smile that had always been her anchor through storms of adversity, infectious and uplifting.

"Atta girl," Ron remarked, as he drew her in for a tight hug. "And don't you ever forget that…"

"I'm sorry, Ron," With her face buried in the crook of Ron's shoulder, Kim mumbled into his jersey. "I'm sorry I tried to break up with you."

"Hey now, I'm sorry too… I'm still angry, Kim, I really am, but I forgive you..." Ron remarked, his voice soft, "I just never knew you felt the same way about us as I did… If only I realized how you felt about us, I'd have done something... I guess even _the_ Kim Possible needs a supportive boyfriend from time to time."

That remarked earned him a gentle punch on the shoulder. With a nervous laugh, she gave Ron a light peck on the cheek before pulling away. "So, Ron…" Kim asked. "What do we do about Sheila? I mean, she likes... _Loves_ you… "

"KP... Kim, if there's anything I've ever learned in life, there is this one thing, if it ain't broke, don't fix it," Ron said. "And our relationship, even with the hiccups the last few months, is doing great. I love you, you love me, and we're perfect for each other."

"What about your feelings for Sheila?"

"They aren't as important as my feelings for you," Ron declared.

"But... But it doesn't feel right," Kim whispered. "Sheila doesn't have anyone..."

"Nah, KP," Ron gave her a smile. "She has us, remember?"

"Us?" Kim asked, taken aback by Ron's brash statement.

"Yeah," Ron nodded his head. "Don't worry about her, KP. She'll find someone some day. But we'll always be her friends and be there for her when she needs us, right?"

"Yeah, I guess, Ron," Kim said, her voice relieved. She stared at him a moment, her eyes alight with changing, confused emotions before finally answering him. "I guess I freaked a little when I found out you have feelings for Shego."

"It's just... Don't worry about it, Kim, I'm yours, always," Ron explained with a sigh. "Trust me, I might be clueless but I know that we're enough of a good thing that I don't want to mess us up. You are probably going to be the best girlfriend that I'll ever have..."

"What, are you planning on having more than one?" Kim's eyes suddenly flashed with seeming jealousy, but her tone was light, teasing.

"See? That's the KP I know and love..." Ron announced with a grin. Pulling his girlfriend closer in a reassuring hug, he cooed, "Come here, KP, you know what I mean. You know better than that... Or you should after today, anyway!" His teasing tone earned a light chuckle from Kim.

"Thanks, Ron," Kim rubbed her cheek into his shirt and taking in his scent. "Thanks, for all those times you stopped me from flying off the handle..."

"Nah, it's no big," Ron beamed at her. "I'm just doing my best. So we still up for Bueno Nacho tomorrow?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

"Great..." Ron said. After a moment, he asked, "So... Have you seen Shego around? She kinda didn't come back this evening, and she didn't say anything about any plans. Did you... Ah... Do something to her in a fit of jealousy that you might someday regret?"

"Ron!" Kim pinched his arm hard, as she pouted. "I'm not like that!"

"Yeah, sure..." Ron said ironically, grinning with amusement as Kim blushed. "And Santa's real..."

"He was until you became twelve!" Kim teased.

"Hey, how was I to know?" Ron protested. "He doesn't stop by my house anyway!"

"Yeah, anyway, she went for a drink with Dr. Director," Kim explained with a smile. "She'll be back soon enough."

"Ah... You sure they won't kill each other or something?" Ron asked nervously. "I had this feeling that Shego has a deadly score to settle with Dr. Director..."

"They'll be fine," Kim replied. "They're both adults... They can take care of themselves."

"Right... So wanna grab some cookies and put on something on the television?" Ron asked. "We got the rest of the evening, and I really want to spend it with my girlfriend and let her know how much I love her."

"Your girlfriend is one lucky girl," Kim allowed herself a smile.

"I'm one lucky guy," Ron quipped as he headed for the trapdoor in the floor and started climbing down the ladder. As he was halfway down the ladder, he stopped and looked up at Kim who was climbing down right after him.

"What? Why'd you stop?" Kim asked him, as she peered down at her blond boyfriend.

With a goofy look on his face, he grinned as he replied, "You know, KP, no matter how many vents we crawl through, lairs we infiltrate, or places we climb up or down, I can never complain about the view..."

"You mean this?" Kim laughed as she wriggled her posterior a little as she stood on the rungs of the ladder.

"Ahh..." words failed him as his eyes were firmly fixed on the sights above him.

"Ron? You still with me?" Kim grinned as she watched her boyfriend lost in thought. Suddenly, she cleared her throat, and announced in a deep voice, "Black hole deep!"

Ron suddenly snapped back to reality by jumping back in surprise. Except that jumping back in surprise while halfway up a ladder is generally a bad idea and Ron's own posterior could attest to that. "Ow!" Ron groaned in pain as he landed on the ground below.

Chuckling, Kim climbed down the ladder and stood over him with a cheeky smile on her face. "You alright, Ron?"

"Man, I thought your dad was behind me," Ron mumbled.

"You have to tell me about that particular fantasy later," Kim grinned as she offered him a hand.

Grudgingly accepting her proffered help, Ron climbed to his feet and dusted off his pants. "No way..." Ron muttered with injured pride. "My fantasies are private..."

"C'mon... You never know, I might want to fulfill a couple of them..." Kim winked at Ron lasciviously as she opened the door to his home.

"Well, if you're so inclined..." Ron's grin turned into a full-fledged smirk. "There's this one where you and Bonnie are argu-..."

"That's far enough, Ron!" Kim suddenly clamped his lips shut with her thumb and forefinger. "That has Bonnie in it so that's _one_ fantasy that won't _ever_ be fulfilled..."

"A guy can get lucky," Ron replied with a shrug.

"And a guy can also sleep in the doghouse," Kim hinted dangerously. "Bonnie?"

"Hey, you wanted to know my fantasies!" Ron protested. "I have no control over what happens in my head..."

"I'll bet," Kim rolled her eyes. Her next words were suddenly cut off by the doorbell ringing loudly and incessantly. Turning to Ron, she asked, "You were expecting visitors?"

"No," Ron shook his head as they walked through the kitchen and into the living room. "Hold up!" Ron yelled out as their visitor did not relent with the ringing of the doorbell. "We're coming!" He threw back the door in exasperation and was caught by surprise when a tall, raven-haired woman with green skin and reeking of alcohol stumbled into the house and threw her arms around him. With his eyes wide open in shock, Ron barely had time to steady himself and keep the woman from falling to the ground. "Shego?" Ron gasped as he almost dropped the older woman.

"Heya, Ronnie," Shego slurred as she looked up dazedly at Ron. "Done your homework yet?"

"Ah... No?" Ron looked at her in confusion.

"Bad boy," Shego admonished him as she struggled to stand on her own two feet. "Oh, hey there, Kimmie..." she turned her head and smiled at the red-head. With a giggle, she asked, "So what have you kids been up to?"

"Ah, Sheila," Kim looked at the woman closely. "Where's Dr. Director?"

"Betts?" Shego asked sibilantly, before letting out another girl-like giggle. "The drunk tank..."

"What?" the two teens echoed. "You're kidding!"

"Nope!" Shego grinned as she leaned against the wall, struggling to take off her shoes. "She tried ta drive home bu' couldn' even open the car door... So when the cop tried ta shtop 'er, she went ta take a swing, but ended up stumbling into him..."

"What were you two doing?" Kim looked at the older woman aghast.

"Hey, it's her fault!" Shego slurred. "Mah superpowersh don' let me get drunk..."

"But Shego," Ron pointed out. "You _very_ drunk..."

"Aww... An' yer such a sweetie," Shego cooed as she stroked Ron's cheek, giving a peck where her hand had just been. "Anyway, Ah'm off to bed." As she spoke those words, she tripped and almost fell before she was caught by both Kim and Ron. "Woah... I'm fine..."

Ignoring her, Kim spoke to Ron, "Get her a couple of aspirin and a large glass of water. I'm taking her to the bathroom to wash up..."

"You don' have ta do tha', Kimmie..." Shego groaned as she weakly tried to push the two teens away. "I'm fine..."

"Right," Ron gently let her go, and after he was certain that Kim could handle the older woman, he went off to the kitchen.

"C'mon, Sheila," Kim gently tugged her arm as she helped Shego climb the stairs to the guestroom.

Shego could only let out a groan as she let herself be pulled in any direction. "Woah, Kimmie... No' too fast..." Shego moaned as she staggered upstairs with her eyes half-closed. "Ah think Ah'm feelin' sick..."

"Almost at the bathroom, Sheila," Kim gently coaxed her on. She did not relish the prospect of cleaning vomit up from the landing carpet, so she was relieved when they got to the bathroom. They'd barely made it inside when Shego fell to her knees and started retching into the toilet. Kim's face screwed up with disgust, but she managed to quell her own nausea and hold back Shego's long black hair from getting caught in the mess. She rubbed Shego's back gently, as she waited for the puking to end.

"God... That sucked..." Shego cursed as she drew back. Wiping her lips with the back of her hand, Shego groaned as she struggled to get to the sink. She felt an arm slip under her shoulder and help her to her feet. "Thanks," she mumbled to no one as she turned the faucet. She gargled a mouthful of water to get chunks of food still there out, following it with mouthwash to remove the foul taste.

"Here," Ron said suddenly, startling Shego. "Drink up and take the aspirin, I'll go make you something light for the morning, Shego."

Shego glanced over at Ron and smiled lazily at him. "Thanks, Ronnie," she leaned forward and threw her arm around his neck to give him a peck on the cheek, not noticing as the blond tensed up for a moment. "Yer awesome, you 'n' Kimmie both..."

Ron glanced at Kim, and was relieved to see a concerned but good humored smile on his girlfriend's face. "Thanks, Shego, but you'd better get to bed."

"Yup, I'm definitely goin' ta bed." Shego agreed amicably, standing straight for a moment before leaning back into Kim's arms with a giggle.

"Be down in a few, Ron."

Ron nodded, letting Kim and Shego pass before going down to the kitchen to fix something light the mint-hued woman could microwave easily for breakfast the next morning.

Turning back to Shego, Kim watched the older woman grope around the sink for a towel blindly, before grabbing the hand towel off the rack nearby and offering it to her. "C'mon, Sheila, time for bed," Kim held her arm as she pulled Shego out of the bathroom towards the guestroom.

Without protest, the older woman let herself be led around, and was soon happily sinking into the cool smooth sheets of her bed. With a satisfied smile, Shego immediately curled up on her side and started gently snoring.

With a sigh, Kim looked down at the woman sleeping in a fetal position. Like it or not, she was definitely going to end up with a neck cramp the next morning sleeping like that. She proceeded to unbutton the older woman's shirt, and slid it off her without much resistance beyond a few unintelligible mutterings from Shego. The pants were slightly more difficult as she had to wiggle the tight fitting jeans slowly off Shego's hips.

As Kim pulled the sheets up over the sleeping woman, she was suddenly stopped by a pair of arms wrapping around one of hers and a set of emerald green eyes staring up imploringly at her. "Don' leave me yet..." Shego muttered forcing Kim to sit on the head of Shego's bed. Shego's eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment, her voice almost breaking as she asked "Kimmie?"

"Yeah, Shego?" Kim asked, not sure what to expect.

Shego stared at her for a long moment before she sniffled a little and nuzzled her face against Kim's arm. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Kim cocked her head to the side in confusion, but nonetheless she decided to let the older woman continue. "I'm sorry fer lyin' to ya... Ya..." She paused and shook her 

head slightly, smacking her lips twice to make her words less hoarse and slurred, "You do look-..."

"Sheila..." Kim whispered, her interruption stopping the mint-hued woman, "I know, it's okay... You just need to rest, relax and try, okay?"

"I'm sorry," Shego whispered, as her shoulders shook slightly with repressed sobs. She chanted those words repeatedly to herself like a mantra. Finally, her voice softened and gave way to a gentle snoring. Her arms slipped and freed Kim as she laid her head down on the bed. But almost reflexively, just as she had let go, her hands started pawing around, searching for something else to hold onto for the night before settling on a pillow next to her.

Kim found herself gazing down at the peacefully sleeping woman. She couldn't help but mumble softly to herself, "Sheila, you're a very attractive and kind woman and I... I can see why Ron fell in love with you." She brushed a few locks of hair out from Shego's face, earning what sounded like a purr from the mint-hued woman.

Kim found herself laughing softly at the undeniably cute antic from the woman who always tried to put up the tough-girl exterior. "Shego, I never thought you would be the person to do something so adorable... And I'm sorry you've had such terrible luck in life and love..." As she pulled the bed-sheets up over her and tucked the green-skinned woman in, she spoke with a quiet resolve. "But Ron's mine for now. And I am not giving him up for you or anyone else in this world." Her voice softened slightly, but kept its resolve as a soft, sad smile crept onto her face, "We'll work something out for you, Sheila... I don't know what, but we will, I _promise_!"

She leaned down and gave the mint-hued woman a hug and a friendly kiss on the forehead, before turning to leave. She closed the door, and she heard a rustling in the room, but chalked it up to Shego rolling over restlessly in bed. Had she looked back in to check on her former nemesis, however, she'd have heard the older woman mumble five sleep-fogged words, "Please... Don' leave me again..."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Hmm… Okay, this will be my last post before I'm taking a week-plus hiatus. Thing is, I'm moving again, to a completely different country… Yup, I know what you're thinking. Twice? In six months? What the hell does this guy do anyway? Well, he writes fanfics. Other than that, it's all his own business. So there.

Yeah, but this time, I'm going home, and then it's serious job-hunting, then I'm gonna have to put a couple of things on hold. Plus I have the iffiest of iffy Internet connection which makes it pretty hard to collaborate or post fics. I'd really try to stick to the once a week post. And if it doesn't work out, well, I'll manage somehow. But I'm not ditching this, and I will see my stories to an acceptable ending. Even if it kills me. In the event of that happening, then you all won't probably see any updates, and you'd start cursing me for going back on my word, which means I'd have to rise from the grave and finish my work.

So there.

And I won't be replying to any reviews until I'm settled. Which takes a week at least?

But on with my thoughts on the fic. I had a suggestion for Witchy Women to play in the background for the confrontation between Shego and Betty. That was a good suggestion, thanks, but I'm still not big on songfics. Lyrics sort of get in the way of reading sometimes? Plus, they're against the FFN Terms of Service, resulting in at least a story removal, if not an outright ban if someone reports them. Anyway, I figured it was a good time for Shego and Betty to reminisce over the good old days once they got over their initial hostility. And it's sort of like everything's fine once they really got down to drinking and apparently relive some of their old times.

As for the Kim and Ron part, the part I sort of wanted to focus on was the Kim-on-a-pedestal bit. If it reads wonky, it's because I had some trouble sort of showing that Ron always had Kim on that pedestal, without slipping into narration, and then having Ron take her off the pedestal. It was a combination of anger, incredulity and hurt on his part to move him to issue her an order instead of it usually being the other way around.

Hmm… I might be feeling slightly smug about it, because instead of writing a short paragraph of "Ron shook his head and cleared his mind, as he resolved to knock Kim off his personal altar of worship." I wrote about two whole pages extra trying to show that. The first thing he does is believe that it's his fault and that he's done something wrong, and calls Kim out on it. That's his typical Ronness speaking. After that, he looks for an explanation, and when Kim's not so forthcoming, he starts to feel frustrated by her behavior and apparent irrationality. And then he sort of gets the idea of what's wrong, and it's this whole thing of keeping up images before, it all crumbles down. So he kinda stopped seeing as Kim Possible as being able to do anything and instead puts his foot down and insists that despite her better judgment, he's not going to stand around and listen to this. So I guess it all worked out for the best.

Ron has stepped up, like we all knew he would.


	13. Chapter 13

The doorbell rang its frantic tone twice, then twice more in quick succession, jarring the quiet business that was the Possible household. Dr. Anne Possible smiled, knowing who was at the door and hollered out of the kitchen to her ten-year old twin sons. "Jim! Tim! Get the door! And stop experimenting with the fireworks!" She shook her head with worry as her children had already proven to be a tad more extreme than regular arsonists and pyromaniacs.

"Okay, mom!" they replied in unison as they rushed to the front door and threw it back. They were instantly greeted by the sight of the Stoppables plus one Shego.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Ron shouted brightly from the Possible's front door. He proudly held up a casserole dish covered with aluminum foil in his hands and ambled happily into the living room before passing the warm dish to Kim's brother Jim.

Jim gave Ron a sharp look as he began to turn away, and raised an eyebrow. "Did you forget to shave before coming over?"

The Stoppables and Shego laughed lightly, and Ron took a comically indignant pose. After a moment, he began chuckling himself while he felt at the light stubble on his chin and upper lip. "Nah, KP thought I might look cute with a goatee and mustache, so I'm trying to grow one."

"Ewww, Kim's given you cooties, you're doing cutesy stuff for her!" Jim moaned and backed away from Ron cautiously. Ron reached out to ruffle Jim's hair, but the adolescent giggled and turned away, walking towards the kitchen.

"Ewww! Keep them away!" Tim moaned theatrically while Ron was reaching for his brother, before yelling in the direction of the kitchen. "Mom! It's Ron and family!"

"And me," Shego hastily added as she hefted Hana in her arms, following Ethan and Jean Stoppable into the Possible's living room.

Jim halted in midstride and turned, raising a surprised eyebrow. "Yeah, that's what he said," Jim replied crossly.

"Family," Tim echoed nonchalantly.

Shego could only mumble an embarrassed "Oh!" before turning her face away from the twins. She allowed herself a small smile as she reached over with a free hand and ruffled Tim's hair playfully. "Now run along," she commanded playfully.

"Gah!" Tim swatted Shego's hand away and tried to smooth his hair back into place. "Let's go ask Ron if we can borrow Rufus."

"Hicka-bicka-boo?" Jim called out from the kitchen as he placed the casserole dish on the kitchen towel his mother hand already laid out.

"Hoosha!"

Shego watched them run off with a lingering smile as she clutched Hana closer to her bosom. "Guess I'm now part of the family, eh? What do you think of that, little monster?" Shego whispered softly to the baby in her arms.

Hana gurgled happily in reply and reached up, grabbing a double fistful of Shego's hair.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Shego yelped as she gently pried off Hana's surprisingly strong fingers. "C'mon… Loosen up…" After loosening Hanna's fingers from her hair, Shego used a lock to tickle Hanna's nose, much to the baby's delight.

"Hey Shego!" Ron's voice called from the kitchen, interrupting her from teasing the little baby's button nose. "Where's Hana?"

"She's over here!" Shego hollered back, as she hefted Hana in her arms. She strode towards the kitchen with a smile on her face and was immediately greeted by the lovely smells of the feast being prepared for the two families.

"Let me take her off your hands for now," Jean Stoppable beamed at the mint-hued woman as she held out her hands. "I know she's been a bother, and I'm sure you could use a break from her."

"She's no bother at all," Shego blushed a little as she reluctantly handed over the exuberant baby. She felt a little awkward clutching at nothing and settled by wrapping her arms around herself. "So where's Kim?" she asked sheepishly.

"Kim's upstairs," Kim's mother, Anne Possible, offered as she turned around from the stove and wiped her hands on her apron. "You might want to go see how she's doing and call her down; dinner's gonna be ready in about twenty minutes. Now where are the boys?"

"You mean our husbands or your twins?" Jean asked with a little laugh.

"Both," Anne groaned a little.

"James and Ethan went to the garage with Jim and Tim," Jean chuckled. "James said there was something he wanted to show Ethan…"

"Oh god, I hope it's not James' rocket-fuel BBQ grill…" Anne shook her head with consternation. "James has been dreaming of a BBQ grill that can cook a burger patty in three seconds flat."

"Men…" Jean sighed as she joined Anne in shaking her head before they both burst out in laughter.

"At least your son helps around the kitchen," Anne remarked as she cocked her head over to Ron who was squatting down in front of the oven, pulling the turkey out after checking its temperature. Satisfied with what he read, he pulled the turkey out and set it on the counter so the meat could rest in its juices.

"He helps around sometimes," Jean replied with a shake of her head. "But I wish he would take school seriously. He's nothing like your Kim… He doesn't have any nearly her smarts and I worry if he's ever going to make it to college."

"Oh, I'm sure your son will make it…" Anne reassured her longtime friend, "And don't let her hear you talking about Ron like that, we'll never hear the end of it!"

Shego silently backed away from the kitchen after she was certain that the two women were engrossed in their conversations of motherhood. She half-expectantly glanced over at Ron, who was completely focused on stirring a pot of sweet potatoes. With a sigh, she walked out of the kitchen and made towards the stairs, waving absently as she saw the teen walking past the landing towards the bathroom.

Noticing the mint-hued woman halfway up the stairs, Kim stopped and smiled at her. "I'll be down in a few!" Kim said with a wave. Shego nodded, wandering silently around the living room.

Feeling a little lost amid the activity in the house, Shego padded around the room like a restless cat, before flopping down on the couch with a heavy sigh. She picked up the remote control and lazily flipped through the channels. She finally settled on some cartoon and tossed the remote carelessly aside with her mind already somewhere else.

"Hey, Sheila!" an energetic voice interrupted her thoughts, drawing her attention back to the real world. A blur of red-hair, dressed in a pink t-shirt and jeans vaulted over the back of the couch and bounced right next to her. "Glad you could make it."

"Heya, Kim," Shego replied sounding bored. "It's not like I had anything better to do."

"Something wrong?" Kim asked. "You seem a little down. Need something to drink?"

"Nah, not touching alcohol for a while," Shego groaned. "After last week's drinking session with Betts, my liver needs time to recover, even with comet powers. I'm still sorry for throwing up over your shoes…"

"I didn't mean an alcoholic drink, Sheila!" Kim said with a giggle, drawing a noncommittal grunt from Shego. "And don't worry about last week, it's no big. At least you didn't leave much to clean up!" Shego scowled at Kim's comment, which brought the red head's smile back to her face. Elbowing Shego in the ribs playfully, Kim continued her teasing unabated. "We're still on for shopping tomorrow, right? You do owe me a pair of shoes."

"Oh whoopee, join in the rabid frenzy on the biggest shopping season of the entire year," Shego rolled her eyes as she drawled with faux sarcasm, "Besides, weren't you supposed to be working on that new cheer routine with Bonnie and Tara tomorrow?"

"No, not tomorrow..." Kim said, "We'll all be too busy recovering from binge eating, and I really don't want to deal with a Bonnie who keeps on muttering about how fat she looks!" Kim muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Her weight's not the only thing she's worrying about…" Shego muttered cryptically. "But I guess it wouldn't surprise me if she wants to meet up tomorrow..." Shego's expression brightened and a considering look came over her features. "Hey, if she does, I guess I won't have to deal with the Thanksgiving rush!"

"Hey, you promised!" Kim objected, punching Shego playfully on the arm, "Besides, Monique's pretty pumped that you're coming along this time. So what's the problem?"

"I just hate crowds," Shego muttered more to herself than to Kim.

"Really?" Kim asked as she sidled up against Shego and leaned her head on the raven-haired woman's shoulder. The abrupt gesture of affection made Shego seize up a little.

"Err… K-Kimmie, Wha-..." Shego stuttered in surprise, swallowing against a suddenly dry throat as Kim's short red hair splayed out, tickling her neck and cheek. "What's that for?"

"Oh nothing," Kim replied lightly. "You just look so alone out here, and I thought you needed some cheering up. So what's with the grouchy face today?"

Kim turned to watch the TV with Shego, unconsciously nuzzling her cheek against Shego's shoulder as she moved to get more comfortable, causing a light cough to hitch at the back of Shego's throat. The older woman glanced down at the red head of hair on her shoulder in consternation, answering with the first thing that came to her mind. "It's just me," Shego lied as she turned her own gaze towards the television.

"Aww… Sheila," Kim pouted. "C'mon, what's bugging you? You don't like Thanksgiving?"

"Among other things," Shego grumbled. "I also don't like nosey cheerleaders."

"But you like me," Kim teased infuriatingly.

"Don't push your luck," Shego warned grumpily. "It's not just Thanksgiving, okay? I just hate holidays in general."

"What's wrong with the holidays?" Kim asked. "I thought you'd at least enjoy the free time off."

"It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Shego grumbled.

"Why?"

"C'mon, it's pretty obvious, Kim," Shego muttered sarcastically. "What're all these holidays about? Family. Thanksgiving, time to give thanks to be with family. Christmas, time to buy gifts for your family. It's always about family. I hate family."

"Oh, c'mon, your brothers can't be that bad. If I had to guess, I'd think that they might miss you," Kim remarked sagely.

"Huh, yeah right," Shego muttered with disbelief. "They're hardly like family, the way they fight among themselves." She took a breath and grimaced, "But... I guess I'm mostly glad to be away from Hego. That's why I joined GJ in the first place. No more teaming up with them for me."

"But they're still family," Kim replied, sounding strangely uncomfortable. "You must at least miss some of them or something... Hego's not your only brother, right?"

"Hey, I've been on my own for so long that I've forgotten what's it like to have family," Shego replied bitterly. "So I can't say I miss anything."

"Hey there," Kim said softly. "Ron and I think of you as family. Maybe more…"

"What's that suppose to mean?" Shego sat up suddenly, shrugging Kim off to the side.

"Um…" Kim realized she had just let something slip and looked up at Shego apologetically.

"What… Did you talk to Ron about your little problem?" Shego asked, looking suspiciously at Kim.

Kim only nodded her head slowly, her face blazing a brilliant crimson at having made what she hoped wasn't a colossal mistake.

"What did he say?" Shego asked bluntly, no longer paying attention to where they were or who might hear them.

"He does like you, in more than a friendly way." Kim whispered in a shaky voice.

"You're lying!" Shego exclaimed immediately, her eyes wide in shock.

"Am not…" Kim whispered again.

"Kim!" Shego hissed, as her eyes flashing in anger at the sullen red-head. "If you think telling me that makes me feel _any_ better, you're wrong! You're dead wrong!"

"I'm not trying to…" Kim mumbled quietly. "I'm just telling you that Ron is attracted to you. I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like this..."

"What… How… No…" Shego's mouth formed a perfect 'O' as she stared in shock at the red-head. "I swear, Kim, I didn't know, I didn't mean to… I'm sorry…"

"No, it's okay, Sheila," Kim placed a hand over Shego's, squeezing it lightly. "It's okay…"

"Are you two…"

"Still together," Kim smiled reassuringly at the mint-hued woman. "I didn't go all green-eyed on Ron, you know."

"I see that he's still walking," Shego replied with a fragile smile, appreciating Kim's attempt at humor. Her face fell quickly, though, as she turned serious, "I guess this means I'm moving in with you?"

"No," Kim shook her head calmly. "I'm putting my trust in you and Ron both... I know that you guys won't do anything to jeopardize our relationship. You won't try to steal Ron away from me, or you'd have done it already!" Kim laughed lightly, surprised at how worried Shego was about the situation. The mint-hued woman grimaced and shook her head, opening her mouth as if to say something, but closing it with a snap.

Kim carried on, her tone serious, "I'm just thankful for the both of you. Ron's been my best friend since forever, and I've come to think of you as my other best friend, right up there beside Ron…"

"But Ron likes me?" Shego gulped after a moment of digesting Kim's comments, turning her face to the side. "I mean, how? Why?"

"Honestly? I think it's easy to understand what Ron sees in you," Kim explained as she put an arm around Shego's shoulders in a familiar manner. "You're beautiful... You're kind and caring once someone gets past that shell of yours... And I have to agree with Ron that you're almost like an older sister or even a second mom to Hana... Not to mention how you've been so, so..." She paused as she looked for the right word to use. Her right hand moved about in a haphazard manner as if trying to grasp the word from thin air. "You've helped me so much that I just can't thank you enough."

"What're you saying, Kim?" Shego asked nervously, glancing away from the red-head's expressive jade eyes.

"Um, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but..." Kim blushed slightly, "I, ah, I know how you feel about people saying what I'm about to say, but I think you're a good person, Sheila, despite being a little rough around the edges." Kim sniggered slightly as Shego rolled her eyes at the last comment, "Maybe that's part of your charm?"

"Maybe?" Shego offered with a little snigger of her own, "So you're not mad about…"

"I was… At first," Kim squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as if she was trying to wash away a bad memory. "I tried to break up with Ron."

"No, you didn't!" Shego's tone was suddenly harsh, and she stared at Kim hard for a moment. "Not for my sake… I'm not worth it, seriously, Kim, I'm not…" Shego blabbered out hastily. "You don't have to do something like that for me, not now, not ev-…"

"I knew you wouldn't let me do something like that," Kim muttered hastily to cut her friend off, allowing herself a small, embarrassed smile, "Ron wouldn't either."

"Yeah," Shego agreed distantly as she sought to suppress the lump in her throat. "That was a pretty dumb move."

"I know…" Kim replied. "Ron actually got kinda pissed... Okay, _really_ pissed, but after that? Ron and I had a good long talk with each other just to know where we both stand. He assured me that he's still very much in love with me and would never give me up for anyone else."

Shego felt a hot-red poker thrust through her gut at those words. Her lips barely registered a pained smile as she felt her heart plummet to untold depths. "Yeah, what did I tell you?" Shego replied with as much snark as she could muster. "You don't have anything to worry about."

"But we still have a lot of things to work out between the three of us," Kim replied, ignoring Shego's shifty nervousness. "I'm sure Ron has some things to say to you too. Maybe we'll go out sometime, a friendly date or something for the three of us, and straighten things out."

"Dat-... Uh huh, yeah..." Shego replied numbly, trying to avoid any remarks that could be misconstrued by Kim. Or anyone that may have heard the red-head's last few comments, for that matter. "Sure, any time."

"But thank you, Sheila," Kim leaned over and gave Shego a big hug, leaving her arms settled around Shego's waist. "Thank you so very much for everything. I don't know if I would have today if not for you. And I just want you to know that you'll always be my friend, my best friend..." Kim settled her face comfortably between Shego's shoulder and neck, again not noticing the sudden tenseness in the older woman's frame

"Me too," Shego replied, feeling that ashen taste in her mouth again, as well as another, uncomfortably familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I mean… Yeah, friends…"

"Um," Kim said after a few minutes, her tone guarded. "So… Shego… When you said that you were really only on bad terms with Hego, how seriously did you mean that?"

"Pretty damn seriously, Princess... Why? I'm not in the mood for any more surprises today," Shego muttered to herself.

"Um..." Kim said, looking away from Shego and sitting up from her comfortable lounging position on the older woman, her words coming out in a rush, "I got a call the other day from Wade, and he said that they were asking if it'd be okay to come over Thanksgiving, since Ron and I have helped them a couple of times..."

"They?" Shego's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You don't mean…"

"And Dr. Director called me too…" Kim added wryly. "And... I may have screwed up? I kinda figured that since this is your first Thanksgiving with us, it should be with your friends and family, and... Well, I said that it shouldn't be much of a problem..."

Shego stared opened mouth at the sheepish red-head, before shaking her head slowly. 'Problem' was just putting things too lightly…

* * *

"Hey sis!" the Wego twins had instantly mobbed her the moment they'd charged through the front door of the Possible residence, quickly embracing her with a tight hug. They were dressed in matching red t-shirts and black jeans for the holiday occasion and aside from a hint of red to their skin, they looked like a pair of normal, mischievous teenage twins.

"Jake, Derek," Shego smiled as she pulled away from their embrace and ruffled their hair, much to their annoyance. But nothing seemed capable of wiping away the smile on their faces. After all, before the lair collapse, they had only seen their sister once in over five years.

"Sis, we miss you a lot," one of the Wego twins, who looked indistinguishable to everyone else, asked enthusiastically.

"When are you coming back?" the other twin asked.

"Hey now," Shego laughed as she stopped them from talking at once by squeezing them affectionately again. "I'm still a wanted criminal, okay? I'm just under special jurisdiction right now, and I'm not allowed to be unsupervised on my own without okaying it first." She looked up and glanced over at Betty, who was suspiciously standing by the liquor cabinet, for backup.

The one-eyed leader of Global Justice nodded her head, her tone brusque, "Shego's not allowed to be more than two hundred meters away from either member of Team Possible without prior arrangements, like the last time she visited you guys. And since she's on what amounts to international probation, she'll be thrown in prison and have all charges levied against her again if she violates it..."

"Yeah, see?" Shego laughed, as she glanced back at the twins. "That bitch has me on a tight leash.

Betty smirked and nodded, "We've still got a cell waiting for her back at GJ, even if it's currently occupied... Although her work with Team Possible has taken a large chunk out of the time she has to spend on probation..."

"Aww…" Jake, or Derek, it was quite uncertain to everyone other than the Wego's family, groaned as he held onto Shego's hand. "But we want you to come home."

"Tell you what, squirt," Shego grinned to her younger brother. "You two can come and visit anytime, okay?" She glanced back at Jean, who had stuck her head out of the kitchen to watch the reunion. The older woman smiled and nodded, earning a thankful wink from Shego.

"Sure!" the twin faces lit up with delight as they chorused in unison.

"Ahem," someone coughed behind the twins. "Sis, I brought you these," Mego walked up to her and proffered a small green carry-on bag. "I figured you might miss some of these things, so I picked them up from your old room at Go Tower."

"What is it, Michael?" Shego asked as she took the bag and unzipped it to peer in at the contents. "Oh, wow… Thanks." Shego managed to choke out. She blushed as she quickly tugged the zipper closed without letting anyone peek into the bag.

"What's in it?" Ron asked curiously from behind Shego. His arm was wrapped around Kim's shoulders, lending support to the red-head was fidgeting nervously, but had a hopeful smile on her face.

"Nothing," Shego muttered in a gruff voice, trying to hide the growing blush on her cheeks. "It's personal."

"It's just her photo album, some pictures of us together when we were younger, her scrapbooks and her old Cuddl-…" before Mego could complete the sentence a loud whooshing sound was heard as Shego lit up her right fist with dangerously hot, flaring green plasma.

"Not another word…" Shego muttered huffily, lifting her hand dangerously in front of Mego.

"Now, now," Anne Possible called out from the kitchen as her motherly instincts tingled, warning of impending destruction in the Possible household. "Like I tell my boys, if it explodes, mutates or causes a dimensional tear in the space-time fabric, take it out into the backyard."

"Wait, I didn't know you owned a Cuddlebuddy," Ron replied with a widening grin on his face. "That's cute. You're such a softy… Kim has a couple, too."

"Ron!" Shego and Kim both grumbled with embarrassment. Shego shared a brief, embarrassed smile with Kim as she attempted to hide the incriminating bag behind her back. As Kim turned to Ron to whisper none too quietly about the propriety of a woman's guilty little pleasures, Shego let the bag slide innocuously next to the stairs.

Glancing around and seeing everyone's attention solidly on the blushing Ron and smirking Kim, she pushed the bag back behind purses and coats with her heel, hoping it would stay well out of the foreground and thus everyone's mind. She made a mental note to retrieve it as soon as no one was watching and find a better spot where she could hide her things.

"Anyway," Mego said uneasily as Shego joined the rest of the group now gathered in the living room, "There's someone here with something to say to you," The purple haired man stepped aside and nudged someone forward. This same person had been trying his best to hide in the background despite his business-casual dress and bodybuilder's frame.

"Henry." Shego spoke tersely, fighting herself to keep from narrowing her eyes at her older brother.

"Sheila." Hego stiffly returned her greeting with a nod.

"C'mon, Henry," Derek, or was it Jake, spoke impatiently. "You said you'd say it if Shego ever came back to the good side again."

"But she's still a… You heard Dr. Director!" Hego replied helplessly as he looked at the pleading eyes of his younger brothers. The three younger siblings stared coldly at him for a moment, their opinion on Shego's change of heart obvious in their eyes "Alright, fine. Shego," he puffed out his chest a little as he drew up with importance. "Shego, you're welcome back to the Go Team if you like."

"Huh… If tha-..." Shego's protest was cut short from a sudden loud outburst to her left.

"No! That's not what you were going to say!" the twins both cried out.

"C'mon, Hego," Jake continued, "You said what you felt when the news came out, why can't you say it now?"

Everyone stared at the indignant hulk of a man, as he attempted to shrug off their scrutinizing glare. Tugging nervously at the collar of his unassuming casual business attire he wore as the manager of Go City's largest Bueno Nacho outlet, he let out a small sigh of defeat as he turned his attention towards his younger sister.

"Fine… I'm… sorry, Shego," Hego finally relented, much to the confused expression from Shego.

"For?" Mego probed on with a hard, questioning stare, a similar expression on the faces of the twins.

With a despondent sigh, Hego continued in a low voice, "I'm sorry for... Back before you went to Global Justice... For calling you all those names and implying that you were not fit to be a hero."

"Wow," Shego let out a low whistle as a wide smirk appeared on her face. "Never thought I'd live to see the day you swallowed your pride."

Hego looked as though he was going to burst into flames as his face glowed bright red. After a few calming breaths, he pointed a finger sharply at Shego. "Wait a minute, Shego," he remarked indignantly as Shego turned away to make a comment to someone else. "I'm giving you a chance to come back and work for the team. I'm sure Global Justice wouldn't mind extending your leash to Team Go as they did for Team Possible…"

"Dammit," Shego griped after several bewildered seconds staring at her brother, "Won't you just shut the hell up about your precious Team Go for five minutes? There hasn't even _been_ a Team Go since I left, unless one of the other three picked up the slack!" The Wegos glanced nervously at each other, and Mego half shrugged, his expression neutral. "Your dreams of a superhero team were destroyed the moment I left! And haven't you ever heard of irony? Team Possible doesn't have me on a leash! I'm staying with them because I want to! For Christ's sake, Hego, they've been more of a family to me than you ever were!"

"Have you forgotten your real family, then, Shego? The one that raised you and fed you?" Hego asked in a half shout. "I'd like to think no, but you must have, or we wouldn't even be _having_ this conversation! You stuck with us until you had a little problem... At the first sign of trouble at home, you were quick to run out on your family! You went straight to Global Justice, and when you didn't like them anymore, you ran off to do villainy with that Dr. Drakken! Now that you're sick of him, you just abandoned him for Team Possible! That's the sort of person you are! You abandon the people around you, you always run away from problems like a coward instead of facing them…"

Just as Hego reached the crescendo of his tirade, Shego took two strides forward and shoved a glowing, plasma wreathed fist at his face. Seething with anger, she spoke as calmly and clearly as she could. "I don't abandon my friends and family," Shego spewed out bitterly. "It's just you… It's not that I couldn't stand Team Go, I just couldn't stand you and your god-almighty attitude!"

Hego glared back unflinching at the green-hued woman and yelled back, "If you'd only acted more like a hero…"

"A hero?" Shego barked out a laugh as she replied with bitter sarcasm. "You mean like you did? Hey, wait a minute... Oh, yeah! Didn't you call me a liar and a worthless whore, just like mom and dad when Chesterfield _raped_ me? Do you believe me now? Or do I have to shove the whole police file down your throat?"

"The circumstances were different…" Hego interrupted, backing up slightly as his anger abated slightly from Shego's harsh words.

"Different my ass!" Shego growled, scowling angrily. "You just believe what you want to believe, don't you?" Shego seemed close to tears. "You think that this is a perfect comic book world where everything 

is fine the moment the bad guy is captured?" She drew her hands to herself, slapping her fingertips into her chest for emphasis, "I'm the victim here! Not only because of Chesterfield, but because of my own mother and father too! And you, my superhero older brother, couldn't bring himself do anything to help! No, you wouldn't help your slut of a younger sister, not you!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Hego growled without thinking, "If you had only acted more proper instead of tempting him…" Hego started indignantly.

"Don't you dare!" Shego raised her voice as she shoved her fist right under Hego's nose threateningly, dousing her plasma at the last second. "Don't you dare even _think_ of put the blame on me! You're acting like some high priced prick of a lawyer, Hego, blaming the victim for her own rape! You're not acting at all like the superhero you claim you ar-…"

"If you were so _innocent_," Hego cut in, his anger finally getting the best of him. "Why did you become such a _whore_ after he _allegedly_ did that to you?"

"What did you say?" Shego whispered in a shocked but clearly hurt tone. Hego had never said anything like that to her, even in all the years they'd been at each other's throats. She tried to steady herself as she stumbled back a step or two, her hand reaching out searching for something to hold on to.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Hego asked with an uncharacteristic sneer in his voice, "You tainted us with your reputation! No one called us for help because heroes are supposed to be proper! They're not _supposed_ to jump into bed with everyone! I was glad! Glad, I tell you, that you finally decided to leave! But the damage was already done; there were people didn't _want_ to get help from the brothers of the 'super-whore', as so many citizens of Go City called you!"

"That's enough!" Kim screamed as she interposed herself between Hego and Shego. Ron, who she had half dragged most of the way, stepped back and gently reached around Shego and hugged her gently from behind, softly murmuring a few words of comfort. Shego leaned into him slightly, barley holding back her tears. "You were invited here for Thanksgiving dinner and a small family reunion! Yet here you are throwing around accusations and insults at your own sister! She's not a whore, and I will not let you insult her like that anymore, especially not in my parent's home!"

Hego turned to give Kim a scrutinizing glare, his face impassive. He opened his mouth to speak, and closed it as a sudden realization hit him. After another moments pause, he spoke, "Miss Possible, you do _not_ understand my sister as well as I do. And I am afraid that, while it could be construed as improper for me to say so, it's obvious that my sister has been a bad influence on you."

"What are you talking about?" Kim replied coldly. "Sheila has not influenced me in any way. If anything, she has been a very precious friend to me."

"I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about, Miss Possible." Hego interrupted, pointing at Kim with a large finger. "Your hair, the way you're dressed? Miss Possible, you are a good role model to us all, but you shouldn't taint your image by associating yourself with Sheila in that way…"

"Shut! Up!" Kim was shaking in rage, her breathing heavy and barely controlled. The huge man took an uncertain step back, and Kim sneered mockingly at him. "That's right, get out..." She grated over the 

sounds of her mother and father calling for everyone to calm down. "Get the Hell out of my parent's house!"

"Now listen here, Miss Possible..." he started, but was cut off when Kim held up a finger.

"_You_ listen, you self-righteous son of a bitch!" She stepped forward, poking the same finger firmly in Hego's chest. "This has nothing wrong with my hair, but if you insist on bringing it up, I _chose_ this hair style when my hair got fried on a mission! Sheila had nothing to do with it! But you… You…" Kim was about to go on when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to say something only to meet her mother's level gaze.

"Kimberly Anne, go into the kitchen and calm down for a moment, please." Anne commanded in a stern voice. Before Kim could open her mouth to protest further, Anne shook her head and pointed towards the kitchen. With a sulk on her face, Kim turned her head to glare at Hego, before drooping her shoulders and going to the kitchen. After watching Kim go, Anne turned her head towards Ron and addressed him, "Ronald…"

Ron shook his head as he gave Hego a dirty look. "Mrs. Dr. P, I won't let him just insult Shego or Kim like that. I…"

"Let us adults handle this," Anne spoke in a no-nonsense tone. "Kim needs you in the kitchen right now to calm her down."

"But…" He started, but a small, broken voice next to him stopped anything he was going to say cold.

"Ron, please?" Shego asked in a whisper. Ron simply nodded with a soft smile and drew his hand away, heading towards the kitchen with a last backwards glare at Hego. As she he pulled away from her, she felt his grasp slip away, instantly regretting it. With one hand pressing against her temple, she tried her best to quell the tumultuous emotions raging in her. She took a step forward, and felt her body sway unsteadily.

"C'mon, Sheila," Betty commanded in a calm tone as she suddenly stepped in to pull the mint-hued woman aside.

Numbly, Shego let herself be dragged aside towards the kitchen, her gait listless. Out of the corner of her eye, Shego noted that Anne, James, Jean, Ethan, Mego and the twins had cornered Hego in the living room, addressing the huge man in harsh whispers. From the frantic gesturing, it was clear what they were saying. But she was in no mood to care.

Shego was barely aware as she sat down in a seat offered by Betty. "This is just great," she muttered quietly, dropping her head in shame. She looked up briefly as she realized Kim and Ron were in the room watching her with concerned looks. "I'm sorry..." she said quietly as she rubbed the bridge of her nose in vexation and tried to steady her breathing.

"You shouldn't be apologizing, Sheila..." Kim replied softly, "It's my fault that I told them that they could come."

"It's neither of your fault," Betty said as she walked over to the table, a crystal glass half-filled with red wine in her hand, "He's pretty thick headed. And here, drink up." She held the glass out to Shego with a knowing gleam in her eye.

Without a word, Shego tilted the glass back and drained every last drop of the burgundy liquid. Wiping her lips with the back of her hand, she placed the glass on the kitchen table and looked at Betty hostilely. "With you, alcohol is always the answer," Shego couldn't resist the dig at her friend, despite the situation.

"It is, if you drink enough of it," Betty replied with a smile as she took a small sip out of her own glass.

Shego grimaced, nodding in agreement. "How much do I need to drink to get rid of a problem like my brother?" Shego muttered angrily.

"I'd say two handles should do the trick," Betty remarked wryly. "But he'd come back in the morning, along with a big fucking hangover."

"What about permanently?"

"That's different," Betty replied with a solemn face. "Your brother's such a jackass that he's impossible for alcohol to get rid of. You might want to try crack cocaine for that."

"Heh," a little shadow of a smile appeared on the raven-haired woman's lips. "You're trying to add possession of illegal narcotics to my rap sheet?"

"Only way I can wrap you a little tighter around my little finger," Betty replied, as she reached over and grabbed the open bottle of wine and poured another glass for Shego.

"Bitch," Shego muttered good-naturedly as she took a smaller sip this time.

"I'm sorry about inviting Hego over…" Kim spoke up mournfully. "I just wanted your first Thanksgiving with us to be memorable."

"Well, you succeeded…" Shego drawled ironically. Looking at the downcast girl, Shego sighed, deciding that hiding behind sarcasm and aggression would not do this time. "But hey… It wasn't all that bad okay?" Shego quickly added. "At least Mego and the twins weren't that bad…"

Ron smirked slightly, thankful for the sudden change in Shego's demeanor, nodding in agreement. "The tongue lashing he's getting sounds worse than anything Barkin ever gave me..."

"But still …" Kim tried again, her face scrunched up in frustration and anger.

"Forget about it, Kim," Shego waved her off. "I just need a little space right now…"

"Right," Kim replied, casting a sidelong glance at Ron who nodded his head in agreement. "If you, um, need to talk later, Ron and I'll be in my room, 'kay..."

"No problem, Kimmie..." Shego smiled gently at the red-head as she moved towards the living room, but paused.

"So…" Betty remarked after Jean left, quirking an eyebrow at Shego.

Looking up at her one-eyed friend, a frown grew across her face. "What?" Shego asked, not liking the strange look that Betty was giving her.

"So... That haircut _wasn't_ your idea?" Betty asked, a hint of a smile at the edges of her lips.

"No," Shego answered hastily, glancing around anxiously to make sure that no one was eavesdropping. The older woman quirked an eyebrow, causing Shego to narrow her eyes at the leader of Global Justice, followed by a grimace as she realized Betty wasn't going to believe her so easily. "Hey, she didn't like the style her mom gave her, so she went to François' salon, blame him!"

"Uh huh…" Betty nodded with a slight chuckle, still not sounding completely convinced. "Anyway, Henry is still as annoying as ever."

"Really?" Shego rolled her eyes and groaned. "It's like the whole world conspired to set me up with the most annoying twit in the world as my brother. As if my life hasn't been hellish enough…"

"If I'd have known your brother was going to be like this, I'd have released Sheegsy into my custody, brought her here and introduced her to the rest of her family," Betty remarked with a sly smile on her face. "I can only imagine Hego's reaction."

"Oh god," Shego groaned as she shut her eyes. "That would be painful. Hego would deliver his sermon on how cloning goes against the laws of nature and I must have been positively evil to let myself be cloned. And Sheegsy would definitely not tolerate his obvious stupidity… They would literally kill each other… After laying Kimmie's house and the entire neighborhood to waste…"

"Not a bad deal, I'd say," Betty remarked wryly. "Settles two of your problems straight away..." Betty snickered briefly, earning a raised eyebrow from Shego. "After that, though you'd owe me a ton of paperwork."

"Hell, give me a clone over that brother of mine _any_ day," Shego remarked bitterly. "At least Sheegsy thinks of me as her sister, not a member of someone's superhero clubhouse."

"Uh huh…" Betty nodded to herself as she poured herself another glass of wine. "So… Speaking of Sheegsy, would you like to know how she's doing?"

"Huh?" Shego asked vacantly, shrugging uncomfortably, "Should I?"

"Well, you might want to ask anyway…" Betty remarked with a smirk, her good eye gleaming in sudden humor.

"Uh huh. Right. So. How's she doing?" Shego queried warily.

"Sheegsy?"

"That's the one."

"Pacing around in her cell anxiously," Betty remarked casually. "Maybe she's waiting for you to visit her. You haven't visited her since you dropped her off in prison. Or maybe she's just missing Dr. Lipsky."

"Hmph," Shego snorted in annoyance. "Another blue idiot."

"Although," Betty remarked smoothly as she waited for Shego to take a sip of wine. "Sheegsy did request for a conjugal visit with him…"

Shego, who had just started to swallow her wine, choked as some of the liquid slid down the wrong path. She began hacking and coughing violently, her eyes watered, and she doubled over, trying to clear her airway. As the soreness in her throat died down, Shego glared up murderously at the director of Global Justice and growled angrily, "You…"

"Hey, it's the holidays," Betty shrugged nonchalantly, as though nothing had happened. "It's her first Thanksgiving. I'm sure she wants it to be memorable too."

"I'll give you memorable…" Shego coughed out, as she grabbed a napkin off the table.

"Hey, I'm just saying… After all, she's your sister, right?"

Shego paused for a moment as she considered those words. "You know, I wonder…" Shego asked. "What _should_ I do about her?"

"What do you mean?"

"We talked and agreed to be sisters… But I'm just…" Shego shook her head slowly. "Should I care about her?"

"Why not?" Betty asked.

"Because…" Shego struggled for an answer. "Because she's not… Because… Because I don't know her at all. To me, she might as well be another stranger in prison even though she shares my genetic code."

"Some evolutionists explain animal altruistic behavior by acknowledging that their siblings share the same genetic traits as themselves... And hence by sacrificing themselves for the sake of their family, they ensure the survival of their genetic traits," Betty remarked with a wry grin on her face.

"Just because she shares my genetic code?" Shego narrowed her eyes.

"If you overlook her psych profile matching yours when you'd just turned sixteen, her predisposition to raise you in her eyes as her role model yet loathe you at the same time, and use you as her emotional crutch to understand her very meaning of existence as well as her need for your approval?" Betty asked before continuing in a solemn tone. "Then I say yes."

"God, you make her sound like she's my…"

"Daughter?" Betty's eyebrow cocked up with amusement, her good eye twinkling, as though laughing at Shego inside.

Shego coughed, her cheeks burning as she raised her glass to cover her rising embarrassment. Setting the glass down, she glared at the woman, "How did…"

"I read the transcripts," Betty explained coolly. "You didn't think we'd leave that room unbugged, now, did you?"

"That was a private conversation!"

"Uh huh," Betty smirked, not rising to the challenge. "Though, I have this funny feeling that you would be a good influence on her. At least she listens to you."

"So you're trying to get me to get her to do whatever you want her to do?"

"That's the idea," Betty remarked lightly.

Shego smirked, shaking her head. "She's too much into Drakken to listen to me that much."

Betty shrugged, continuing with her original thought, "But you might have a vested interest in her beyond sharing fingerprints, powers, and the same genetic code."

"Yeah, why's that?"

"I don't know about you, but around here, we call people who have those things in common family."

"Oh." Shego took her time as she stared at the back of her hands resting on the table. "Family, huh? So you're saying I should visit her because she's family?"

"Let me put it to you this way then," Betty replied quickly. "Imagine if it were you in there instead of her… In fact, you don't really need to imagine… You were there yourself before. Did you want someone to come and visit you?"

"Huh," Shego grunted, as she pondered on that thought for a moment, with a strange distant look on her face. "She's not too bad as a sister…" Shego finally relented. "At least she's nothing like Hego, he's one damn annoying twat."

Betty laughed as she slapped Shego on the arm. "At least your brother didn't turn to villainy, create his own mirror version of your organization and try to kill you…"

* * *

Sheldon Director, aka Gemini, was currently in a very important meeting. It being Thanksgiving and a time for family, Gemini was in a foul mood. His sister, Dr. Elizabeth Director, had been a thorn in his side for far too long. It was infuriating, what her often being the apple of their parents' eye, plus the fact that she never let him forget that she was older than him.

_By a mere five minutes!_

Sibling rivalry had eventually escalated into a full-fledged underground war. He would have triumphed over his infuriating sibling, if not for one fundamental flaw in his plans. His sister had the United Nations backing on her side. After all, he was _the_ villain.

But he had a feeling all that was about to change. A woman with short cropped platinum blonde hair had entered his fortress seemingly untouched. But he had seen her waltz through all of his defenses, wielding nothing more than a stainless steel briefcase. She had hospitalized two dozen of his men and destroyed or disabled half a dozen sentinel robots, eight laser turrets and two Spinning Tops of Doom. She was good, he admitted to himself. At least as good as that red-headed cheerleader that did favors for his sister, if not better.

"What do I owe the pleasure, Miss?" Gemini asked in a deadly serious tone as his remaining henchmen, the best he had, formed a cordon behind his back. They had leveled plasma-shooting staffs at her, and she had smirked, unfazed by the seemingly overwhelming numerical advantage.

"Miss ANThropy... Perhaps you've heard of me?" She asked in an arrogant tone combined with the deadly, predator like intensity in her eyes that sent a chill up his spine. "I have to admit, this is the hardest facility of its type I've broken into for a good while. If you had the funding, I'm sure it'd be nigh impregnable, even to me..."

He crossed his arms as he attempted to steel his nerves and maintain control of the situation. His fingers twitched as he covertly thumbed a button on his right forearm. This button activated his newest weapon, a of powered armor far more effective than the aborted Centurion armor the U.S. government had tested, armor that could wipe out a squadron of main battle tanks and their itinerant support... Or an entire company of Global Justice agents.

With an unintimidated smirk, despite the weapons trained on her, Miss ANThrophy held her head up cockily. "I've got a proposal for you…"

"Do you?" Gemini's voice grated angrily. "You waltz into my lair and you take out half my men, and then you expect me to cooperate with you? Give me one good reason…"

"I can give you the thing you want most…" Miss ANThropy smiled evilly.

"Oh really?" Gemini replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "And what would be the price of this?"

"I want your cooperation, your men and your resources," Miss ANThropy replied in an even, carrying tone, as though she was addressing the entire main hall of operations. With every eye suddenly trained on her, she displayed a barracuda-like smile.

"That's a lot to ask," Gemini sneered at the proposal. "And what makes you think I will agree anyway?"

"Because you haven't heard my offer yet," Miss ANThropy replied easily as she announced with a smirk.

"And what's that?"

"The downfall of Global Justice as it now stands, and the capture or elimination of Dr. Elizabeth Director!"

Gemini stared at her with amazement, before he started barking out a short, sharp laugh. "You are mad!" he shouted back at her. "What makes you think you can destroy Global Justice when I have been trying to do the same for years?"

"Because I have this…" Miss ANThropy easily slung the heavy briefcase across the room such that it skidded to a halt and bumped gently against Gemini's feet.

Gemini straightened up in surprise at the words, glancing hungrily at the briefcase at his feet. He restrained his natural instinct to pounce on the thing and open it up. Instead he raised a finger and called over a henchman to do his bidding. "What is it?" he asked the blonde, barely able to stifle his excitement.

"Blueprints," Miss A remarked lightly. "_All_ of the blueprints to Global Justice's main headquarters between Middleton and NORAD... As well as lots of other goodies: counter-insurgency protocols, defense over-rides, complete defensive layouts and coverage for automated and manually controlled turrets... And three all-access keycards. All the information you need to mount the perfect attack."

"H-… How?" Gemini gaped in shock at the wealth of information at his fingertips as he glanced at the seemingly innocent stainless steel briefcase.

"I have my ways..." she replied cryptically.

Gemini pondered for a moment, as a grin started to form on his face. "So what's in it for you?"

"One person." Miss ANThropy smirked as Gemini considered what she was saying.

"An agent?" he asked cautiously.

"No. A prisoner." Miss ANThropy replied simply, her smirk widening slightly.

"All this for just one prisoner?" Gemini scoffed. "If you have all this..."

Miss ANThropy laughed heartily at the one-eyed man, shaking her head in amusement. "Well... This prisoner is a _very_ high value target... And it must be recovered intact."

"Who do you work for?" Gemini asked, and Miss ANThropy shook her head negatively.

"You don't need to know that piece of information," She took a few steps forward, not reacting to Gemini's men tensing behind him.

"I don't work with people I don't know or trust," Gemini haughtily replied.

"Then my business goes elsewhere," Miss ANThropy remarked.

Gemini glanced desperately at the briefcase, wondering at the back of his mind whether he could somehow kill the woman standing before him and seize the information himself. The way she stood, dressed in nothing but a black wife-beater and army fatigue pants, betrayed the fact that she was completely unarmed except for the handle of a combat knife sticking out of her right boot.

_Yet she was able to breeze __right through all my defenses._

"Now tell me why shouldn't I just kill you and take the blueprints for myself?" Gemini grinned as he gently fingered the trigger on his armor.

"Let me put it to you this way, Sheldon Director," Miss A addressed him directly. "Even if you are able to lay a finger on me with that armored suit of yours, unless I give the all clear within the next thirty... This lair will be turned into rubble by a couple dozen non-nuclear, plasmic bunker busting bombs. So if you want to even try, I'd suggest you better start packing…" She smiled indulgently, a vicious gleam in her eye as she concluded, "I can wait."

He studied her features carefully, trying to spot a telltale sign of a bluff. But she just stood too confident and aloof, completely unfazed by the weapons aimed at her. His mind pondered on the alternatives…

There was definitely more to this mysterious woman than meets the eye. Gemini gritted his teeth as he glanced over at the briefcase, wondering if this could be some sort of plot by his sister to set him up. But the sweet temptation of victory proved too great. Besides, if this woman worked for his sister, she would have attempted to apprehend him already.

"Fine, you have a deal," Gemini spoke out loud.

Miss ANThropy smirked as she noticeably released the tension in her limbs. "Good, I was afraid you needed some more persuasion." As she turned to walk out the lair, she waved her hand and called back, "Get your men prepped, we move in two weeks. I'll be in touch."

Gemini watched cautiously as the mysterious woman disappeared out of his lair. He wondered to himself how much trust he could put in this woman, knowing nothing more than just her name and that she has deep and powerful connections. Powerful enough to provide him complete access to Global Justice's headquarters. All he needed to do now is to make sure that she wouldn't betray him, and he certainly felt that she was thinking of the exact same thing.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

This chapter has mostly been about family, well, thematically at least. First there's that sort of happy family sense of a Thanksgiving, and yes, I seem to be out of season. It probably felt a little forced, but I guess in some people's perception, Shego is probably seen as a part of Ron's family. Then there's the evolving relationship between Kim and Shego... I guess somehow, I feel that Kim's finally accepted Shego into her life, and honestly considers the former thief as her best female friend. They seem to have worked out an almost sisterly friendship; Kim is probably the more energetic and enthusiastic one, dragging Shego around places and trying to cheer her up.

I guess this sort of contrasts the relationship between Shego and the rest of the family. Yes it's ironic that Mego actually thought of things that Shego might like, even if it detracts from his egotistical need to be the center of attention. But hey, he's not always selfish, right? Then again, having been lured to Eletronique's trap and turned evil due entirely to his own ego might have had something to do with that...

The obvious highlight of this chapter would be the blowup between Hego and Shego. I guess it kinda shows their strained relationship, and Hego isn't lying about some things such as Shego sleeping around when she was younger. I guess, in these sorts of arguments, Shego does get bossed around by Hego. It probably stems from their childhood where the older sibling usually wins at arguments, and the younger sibling gets stuck in this psychological pit where he or she usually loses the argument.

Then there's Gemini at the end of the chapter, and his thoughts on one Elizabeth Director. Obviously, there's long standing bad blood between them, and now Miss ANThropy's there to throw gasoline on the fire. Big things in the works, obviously. And as usual, the world's blissfully unaware of it.


	14. Chapter 14

There was a thundering of footsteps before Shego's office door was thrown open unceremoniously. The loud slamming of the door echoed through the office, quick gasps of breath following an instant later. The red-head, dressed in a Middleton High cheerleading uniform leaned against the door for support, trying to compose herself; by her demeanor, it was obvious she was unaware of the occupants in the room.

"Kim," Shego crossly spoke from behind her desk. "Do you mind knocking first? I have guests..."

"Sheila..." Kim replied, sounding panic-stricken due to her heavy wheezing, "I... I... We... Can we talk... Now?"

"Not now," Shego replied frostily. "I am in a meeting..."

"Oh... Sorry..." Kim glanced hesitantly at the other occupant in the room. "Ah..."

"Hey Red!" the other person in the room greeted her cheerily while looking over a pair of stylish glasses. Kim stared mutely for a moment at the woman as she flipped out her long, straight blonde hair, before leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs in such a way to highlight her athletically slim legs. The familiarity of the leering sweep of the woman's open, lewd gaze, as though undressing the teen with her imagination, made Kim panic further as she frantically searched her memory for the name of the familiar grey eyed woman.

"Um... Alex Liebherr?" Kim gulped nervously as she finally put a name to the woman's deceptively beautiful, seemingly angelic face. She had met the blonde haired sculptor and painter once a couple of months before, when Ron and Shego were looking for people to testify against Reggie Chesterfield. Safe to say, the meeting had not been remotely close to what she had expected, by a long shot.

"Oh goody!" Alex chirped with delight as she gave Shego a huge grin. "She remembers me! I must have made quite an impression!"

"Uh huh," Shego was clearly not amused as she narrowed her eyes. "How could she forget? You asked her to pose nude for you before dropping obvious hints that you were interested in having sex with her and Ron."

"Oh, come on now..." Alex grinned mischievously at Kim. "Don't be jealous, Sheila, you could always jump in anytime! Besides, it was just a little harmless flirting. And I'd bet you enjoyed it too, right, Red? I see you got a rather..." Alex leaned in suggestively towards Kim before completing her statement, "Out haircut..."

"What?" Kim gulped as she took a step back. "No!"

Alexis continued to leer at Kim for a moment before her eyes widened slightly. "Actually, it kinda makes you look familiar..."

"Back off, Alex," Shego warned her in a cold voice, making the blonde wince slightly. "You're talking to one of my students there..."

"Oooh..." Alex recovered quickly, grinning as she rubbed her hands together. "How nice... A little forbidden relationship you got here? I bet that's what got her all flustered, that you're going to spank her..."

"Alex!" Shego growled, "Look, I don't mind you showing up at my workplace for a chat, but please don't harass my students. And next time, give me a call before you show up at my office unannounced. Then I can make sure that we have a fire drill that day..." Shego smirked faintly as a small touch of payback for the last hour of teasing by the blonde popped into her mind, but she schooled her voice into neutrality. "You should come with a warning label: Keep away from minors..."

"Aww..." Alex sighed. "You're such a spoilsport. Where's the old Shego I know? The one who'd let me bounce a quarter off her ass..."

"Alex!" Shego screeched with embarrassment as she glanced sheepishly at Kim, shaking her head fervently in denial. "Look, Kim, can this wait? We'll talk after I get rid of Ms. Hormones here..." Shego glared daggers at the older woman who was chuckling with mirth.

"Ah... I guess," Kim blushed with embarrassment as she slowly fumbled for the doorknob.

"Hang on a minute," Alex called out to Kim. "Why don't you just talk right now? We were talking about nothing important. Sheila and I were just reminiscing of our shared past." She cast a distinctively perverse leer in the direction of the mint-hued woman.

"It's okay," Kim mumbled softly as she tried to excuse herself. "It can wait..."

"Nah, it's fine," Alex walked up to her and grabbed Kim's arm and pulled her gently towards the chair. "Look, have a seat. Besides, you got me all curious as to what could get a world saving teen all worked up like that..."

"Umm..." Kim glanced helplessly at Shego looking for some sort of sign of support. "Really, it's nothing important..."

Sensing Kim's apprehension, Shego spoke to her defense. "Alex, maybe we'll deal with this later? After all, it may be private..."

"Nonsense!" Alex announced, seeming to be quite oblivious to the red-head's rising discomfort. She winked at Shego and patted Kim's shoulders in an oddly comforting manner. "We're all women here, and trust me, I can be quite discreet. So, Red, tell me, what's eating you? Is it Sheila over here?"

"No!" Kim yelped, as her face reddened a shade deeper. She paused for a moment as she glanced over at Shego. "It's just... Okay, maybe you _can_ help... It's just... I saw..." Kim sighed again before she continued, "It's just that... I just saw Bonnie and Tara... In the gym..."

"Oh!" Alex exclaimed as she sat back in her chair. "Is that all?"

Numbly, Kim stared at the older woman, "Is that-...? Um, Alex, they were kissing an-..."

"So, Red, you just haven't seen two women kiss before?" Alex interrupted curiously. "And you're wondering what's it like? Look, I can show you right now..."

"No!" Shego and Kim quickly shouted their protests. Kim opened her mouth to say something more, but Shego's annoyed voice interrupted her.

"Alex!" Shego growled again, glaring angrily at Alex. The raven-haired woman stood, her chair flying back from her haste and clattering noisily against her filing cabinet. She rushed around her desk to restrain Alex's shoulder. "Don't you already have some other girlfriend to make out with?" Shego growled through gritted teeth.

"Aww..." Alex grinned back at Shego. "She won't mind... At least she _better_ not until she asks me to be exclusive! Besides, she's really busy at the moment; that's why I decided to come and visit you instead."

"Great," Shego mumbled her annoyance. "So why don't you go and run off to look for her right now?"

"Nah, I'm planning to surprise her," Alex replied flippantly. "So, back to you, Red. Who is this Bonnie and Tara? And why are you so shocked at them kissing? Don't tell me you got the hots for one of them? I thought that blond guy was good enough for you already..."

"No!" Kim recoiled in horror as she shirked a few inches away from the overly-amorous blonde woman, then shuddered almost theatrically. "Ewww, Bonnie? No... It's just that... Um, kissing wasn't..." Kim swallowed, closing her eyes to center herself. "That wasn't all they were doing... I never thought they would..."

"Why wouldn't they?" Alex asked. "Wait... 'Wasn't all they were doing'? What, they were getting a little hot 'n' heavy in the changing rooms or something?" The look on Alex's face told Kim that she should have kept the information to herself, and the red-head felt her blush deepen yet further and start to creep down her neck.

"Well..." Kim gulped as sought to say what she needed to without making things worse yet. "I mean I know that Tara's bisexual... She's been out with the squad and, well... Everyone? For a little over a year now, and she's kissed other girls kinda publicly before... But Bonnie ... You know... That way..."

"Aww..." Alex cooed as she glanced over at Shego. "How sweet... They are still all so innocent this way... So wait a minute, what's got you all bothered then? If you don't like either of them..."

"I like Tara, she's never been a problem... But... Oh, I don't know..." Kim shrugged in frustration as Alex's question forced her to analyze her earlier reactions. Pausing, she looked to Shego for support but noticed the mint-hued woman had leaned back and was observing the entire conversation with deep concentration.

"So, you don't have an issue with women kissing in front of you?" Alex asked, and was almost surprised when Kim shook her head slowly. "But they were doing a lot more than just kissing? Like hands under clothes, all that?"

"I just saw Tara going down on-... Gah!" Kim screeched in embarrassment, earning a hearty laugh from Alex and a worried groan from Shego. The red-head paused and took a few more deep breaths to center herself again, before continuing in a more considering tone. "It was just... I never expected it, especially at school, y'know? I mean, I kinda figured out they were involved a while back when Bonnie supposedly had a big date and all, but she was going to go to the mall with Tara, which she never does before a date... I kinda almost outed them before..." She paused, wincing at her own admission, then continued lamely, "And no, I've never seen two girls... You know..."

"So you're one of those kind of people, huh?" Alex asked in a slightly disapproving tone.

"What do you mean?" Kim's face screwed up in confusion as she glanced at Alex.

"Oh, nothing," Alex replied airily. "It's just that a seasoned bisexual like me would call you a hypocrite."

"What?" Kim raised her voice in surprise. "I am not!"

"Oh, come on, Red," Alex winked lasciviously at her. "You are the kind of person who'd probably say that you don't mind girl-on-girl action, but when it happens in front of you, you feel disgusted..."

"I do not!" Kim retorted. "I didn't feel disgusted, I just... I was surprised... That's all..."

"Aww... 'fess up, Red," Alex waggled her eyebrows. "Look, if you keep all your feelings pent up inside you, you're going to turn into a frigid bitch like Sheila over here."

"Stuff it, Alex," Shego bit back sharply. "Anyway, Kim, did they know you were there?"

"Err... Yeah? I think, at least they knew I was out in the gym?" Kim tried to remember. "We were supposed to meet after school to discuss the new cheer routine... I kinda probably slammed the gym door pretty hard on my way out..."

"Crap," Shego cursed under her breath.

"What?" Alex asked.

"This is what Bonnie was afraid of," Shego muttered as she worried at her lip.

"What? Why?" Kim looked at her with amazement. "Wait a minute, you knew?"

"Uh huh... Long story short is..." Shego sighed before continuing in a worried tone, "Bonnie was just as surprised as you to find out that she's into other women too. And she's still trying to get used to the idea..."

"Ah, how nice it is to be young again..." Alex sighed as she wistfully stared off into the distance.

"_Alexis_!" Shego snapped, drawing an apologetic grin from the blonde. "You're only twenty-eight. And aren't you already in a relationship with someone? The way you made it sound, you're one step away from moving to California, Massachusetts, or Canada..."

"Aww... Don't be a spoilsport," Alex fake pouted, then raised a finger, a sage expression on her face, "And don't hate me because I'm living your dream."

Shego coughed and spluttered at those words, her face flushing with a brief, intense anger before she calmed herself enough to form coherent speech. "Anyway," she spoke tersely as she glared at Alex, before turning a calmer gaze back to Kim, "I know it's one thing to _know_ that Tara and Bonnie are..." Shego searched her memory for the politically correct term. "Partners... But it's another thing to actually _see_ them as partners... I'm guessing that's why you're so freaked out?"

"Hello, don't they make porn plots of cheerleaders getting it on in the locker rooms?" Kim exclaimed with waving arms. Shego and Alex both blushed at Kim's comment, earning a smirk from Kim, "So yeah, I guess you could say that..." Shego glowered at Kim for a moment, and Kim sighed, in consternation. "Sorry, Sheila, it's just... I never expected them to see that in the girl's locker room..."

"Then shouldn't you talk to them about it?" Shego suggested. "I think it'll be good for the both them _and_ you. Consider it coming to understand another side of the both of them. Plus I'm sure Bonnie's a nervous wreck right now. She was really afraid of you finding out and destroying her reputation..."

"Why?" Kim asked in honest surprise, "I wouldn't do something like that to her..." She paused as she received a raised eyebrow from Shego and Alex both. "Okay, once, but I was kinda messed up?" She accentuated her comment by tapping her index finger against her head.

"Granted," Shego sighed in reply, "Still, let's just say, she's more than convinced that you hate her. Maybe this would be a good opportunity for you two to understand each other a little more and work better as a team. After all, I'm still expecting you all to win the Regionals."

"I guess..."

"Alright, we'll talk more about this later, when there aren't any interruptions," Shego glared at a smirking Alex who was lightly fanning herself.

"Right, see ya at Bueno Nacho, Sheila," Kim said slowly, as she gave Alex a glance. "See you later then, Miss Liebherr..."

"Hopefully I'll see more of you too," Alex winked at the double entendre.

With a small 'Eep!' Kim ducked out of Shego's office in a hurry. With the red-head finally gone, Alex turned to give Shego a knowing smile. "Hey, if I didn't know any better, I'd have said that you make one hell of a good teacher..."

* * *

"Wait, Bonnie's gay?" Ron asked incredulously, stopping just long enough to swallow his Naco at Bueno Nacho. The Tex-mex restaurant was their usual after-school venue, and Ron was relishing his second Naco of the day, slowly chewing on the cheesy goodness. The two of them sat in their usual booth, across from each other while discussing their day.

"The correct term is homosexual," Kim reminded her charming but obtuse boyfriend. She sighed as she clutched her temples. To say the least, the day had been weird in every sense of the word. As if running into Alex hadn't been bad enough, she'd discovered that Bonnie was so far back in the closet that she was actually moldy.

"So Queen B and Tara? Doing stuff in the girls locker room?" Ron let out a whistle as he winked at Rufus.

"Ron!" Kim's eyes flashed angrily at him. While she found his antics cute at times, the boy had a knack for pointing out the obvious pink elephant in the room. Shaking her head, Kim muttered something like "Men!" under her breath.

"Sorry, just asking..." Ron replied meekly. "It's just I never thought Tara or Bonnie would do something like that..."

"That was their first time making out in the locker rooms, okay?" Kim eyed her blond boyfriend warily. "Besides, they like each other more than just physically. We had a good talk about it, and I never knew that Bonnie needed my approval so badly..."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Kim shrugged as she thought about it. "Maybe it's because I'm the captain of the cheer team? Anyway, you can keep this a secret, right?" Kim asked. "Bonnie doesn't want it spread around school..."

"Ah... Not a word, right Rufus?" Ron looked down at his pink naked companion who was busy gorging himself on a stray Naco.

"Nuh 'uh," Rufus bothered to look up for a moment, before literally throwing himself at the feast before him.

"Right..." Kim raised an eyebrow at the naked mole rat's voracious antics. It had often occurred to her that the Naco was actually bigger than the little guy, and she'd often wondered where it all went. "Anyway," Kim cleared her throat, "Bonnie and Tara have been going out for almost a month. No one noticed because they act like really close friends..."

"So if Bonnie's gay... I mean, homosexual..." Ron asked in between mouthfuls, "Then why'd she tease you about your haircut and say that it suited you?"

"Yeah, about that..." Kim sighed out loud. "I was wrong... I guess she wasn't teasing me about it, she actually meant that as an honest compliment!" At Ron's raised eyebrow, Kim put head in her hands, scrubbing at her eyes with her palms, "I know, I know, it's ferociously weird, having Bonnie compliment me. But Tara's wanted her to start being nicer, and she was kinda hoping that if she was nice to me about something like that, then I'd be nice to her if she ever came out..."

"Hold up a minute there, KP," Ron's brow furrowed, as he looked confused. "Did you just say that Bonnie was nice to you? Oh no! This means the world is about to end!" Ron looked about in wild melodrama, then fixed Kim with a serious stare, "Hey, wait a minute... Didn't you say once that the day that the high school evil was actually nice to you would be the day you eat both your shoes?"

"No!" Kim raised her voice as she reached across the table and smacked Ron on the arm. With a slight reddish tinge on her cheeks, she conceded, "Well, maybe... But who would have thought it?"

"Ah, well..." Ron replied sagely, "Sensei once said that even a butterfly can move a mountain."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," Ron shrugged while munching away, not quite able to hide a knowing smile. "It just sounded like the right thing to say. Anyway, I can help you boil your shoes if you want... Add a little chicken stock and pepper, and they should be, how would I say it? Delish!"

"Ron!" Kim protested as she glared at him. "It was just a saying..."

"I know, I know," Ron laughed out loud.

"Anyway, where's Sheila?" Kim asked as she glanced at her watch. "She was supposed to meet us here fifteen minutes ago."

"I don't know," Ron mumbled, as he returned to the remains of his meal, finally chomping down on the last bite, before savoring the fading taste on his fingers.

"Have you seen her at all day?" Kim asked in confusion.

"Nope."

"I thought you usually go to her office during lunc-..." Kim asked, only to be interrupted by a nervous sounding Ron.

"Nuh uh." Ron muttered, fidgeting slightly in his seat.

Kim raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in demeanor of her boyfriend. With his usual chatty self giving way to sullen, even suspicious behavior Kim had never seen before, she decided to press the issue. "Okay, what's wrong now, Ron?" Kim asked curiously.

"Nothing..." Ron tried to explain, "It's just... Shego!"

"Hi, Kim," Shego greeted the red-head before sliding into the seat beside Kim. "Ron," she mumbled almost inaudibly, before staring at her hands where they were folded on the tabletop.

"Oh-kay..." Kim enunciated slowly as she watched the mint-hued woman in surprise. "You seem rather quiet today... Something happen at school after I left?" Kim asked, intentionally putting a slightly suggestive tone in her voice.

"No..." Shego glanced up nervously at Ron, ignoring Kim's implication, and for the briefest second their eyes met. She quickly turned away, blushing a furious red and coughing twice. She muttered something incoherent and looked back at Kim, trying to keep a cool air about her.

"Ron?" Kim glanced over as her equally shifty boyfriend took a sudden interest in his nails. "Did something..."

"Uh, sorry, KP!" Ron interrupted with a rather loud voice, as he palmed the table with a sudden bang that made Kim and Shego jump in surprise. "I need to use the little men's room..." Before either one could say a word, Ron had already scooped Rufus up with his hands and disappeared around the corner towards the washroom.

"Oh-kay..." Kim stared in surprise at his fleeting figure. "I did not see that coming. Sheila? What happened?"

"It's nothing much," Shego attempted to smile weakly as she edged away a little from Kim. "Hey, you know what? I'm rather hungry; I think I'll get a bite to eat first..."

"Not so fast," Kim's hand shot out and grasped Shego's arm. "You two are hiding something, so someone better start spilling..."

"Ah, don't worry about it, Kim," Shego winced at her grasp. Glancing pleadingly at Kim, she added, "Trust me, Kim, it's just a small thing."

"If it's that small, then just tell me," Kim's voice hardened. "C'mon, Sheila, don't give me a _reason_ to be jealous."

"Well, if you must know..." Shego glanced around helplessly for some sight of a blond teenager who might help her explain things. No doubt he'd crawled out of the bathroom window and was already halfway to Guatemala. "Look, it's all an accident, okay? Just promise me you won't get mad."

"I can't promise you what I don't know." Kim said, a confused, half smile and half scowl on her face.

"Fair enough," Shego sighed helplessly. "Just remember, it's only an accident and nothing did happen between us, okay?"

"Enough, Sheila!" Kim sighed out loudly. "Just tell me already, don't keep building up the suspense!"

"Ah... Well... You see... This morning..." Shego mumbled to herself as she tried to string together a coherent sentence. "Ron just happened... By total accident... In his usual clumsy self... But it was my fault too... I forgot to lock... But still..."

"Sheila!"

"Okay, okay!" Shego hurriedly spoke. "It's just... Ron walked in on me while I was taking care of some feminine things in the shower this morning!" Her last words came out in a rush as her blush deepened significantly. She squeezed her eyes shut tight in anticipation of the outburst, and then Kim's fist sailing in shortly after.

After a tentative second, when nothing had apparently happened, Shego cautiously opened one eye. As her vision focused, she saw Kim sitting there looking stunned. Her mind rang out in panic; Kim's mind wasn't done processing the information yet. It'll be soon when Mount Kim explodes and kills hundreds of innocent people in Middleton.

Then it happened. A soft chuckle at first, then Kim broke out into a good old fashioned laugh. "So that's all?" Kim asked, with the mirth dancing in her eyes. "You had me worried there for a second."

"What? So you're not mad?"

"Nope," Kim laughed. "Though I might be because you didn't tell me sooner."

"Heh..." Shego laughed nervously. "I just didn't know how you'd react..."

"It's okay, it's not your fault..." Kim reassured the older woman. With a wink, she mischievously asked, "So how much of a show did you give him?"

"Not very much, thank you," Shego shot back quickly, as she tried to hide her embarrassment.

"It's okay," Kim smiled as she sat back in her seat and patted Shego's arm. "I mean, hey, it's only an accident right?"

"Uh huh..." Shego smiled wryly as she finally felt that burden eased off her shoulders.

"Anyway..." Kim winked at her as she nodded her head towards the far side of the fast food restaurant. "Ron's back, just play along, okay?"

"Wha-...?" Shego quickly clammed up as she turned her head and saw Ron. Their eyes instantly averted when they met, and Ron quickly sat down and tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Ron..." Kim intoned seriously. Her sudden change in demeanor surprised even Shego who turned to gape at her. "Sheila had a very interesting story to tell me."

"Huh?" Ron's face instantly seized with panic as his jaw dropped a few good inches. His cheeks turned a crimson red, as he started stammering profusely. "I... I... Don't know... What... Talking... About... You..."

"Sheila told me that you've been spying on her in the shower."

The accusation hit Ron like a forty pound sledgehammer right between the eyes. The impact shattered all the language skills that one Ron Stoppable had accumulated through his seventeen years of existence, and robbed him of whatever sense of dignity he had left in him. Being described as nothing baser than a closet pervert by none other than his most beloved and trusted girlfriend struck him deeply, and it took several seconds to process fully what had been said. The loud screaming echoes of denial could be heard fifteen miles away.

"No!" Ron jumped up in horror as he slammed his hands on the table vehemently. "It was all a big mistake, I tell you, Kim! Shego! Tell her! I did no such a thing!" He looked between an impassive Shego and the still dead serious looking Kim, panic rising in his voice even as it lowered in volume as he continued to defend himself, "KP, have you ever known me to do something like that? It's all a big misunderstanding, I swear! Right Shego? C'mon, Shego, tell her, I was half asleep when I walked in, and I barely saw anything before I scooted out of the bathroom. Seriously, I swear on all that is good and cheesy, I did not spy on you!"

Kim, despite fighting a valiant battle with herself, finally broke down in a tremendous fit of giggles, Shego's own giggle at the look on Ron's face following shortly behind the red-head's. "Amp down, Ron," Kim tittered as she reached over and placed a comforting hand on Ron's before her boyfriend decided to talk himself into a coma. "I was just teasing... Sheila already told me that it was only an accident..."

"Oh... Really?" Ron grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, so chill..." Kim reassured him, glancing around at the consternation she saw on the faces of Bueno Nacho's other patron's.

"Uh... Heh..." Ron rubbed the back of his neck as he turned towards the mint-hued woman. "So... Shego... Yeah, I'm still sorry about that, okay?"

"Yeah... It's okay..." Shego mumbled in reply, embarrassment at Ron's apology and her own giggling clear on her face. "So... I know it's only Tuesday, but what are your plans for the weekend after the half day and pep-rally Friday? Or are you waiting on plans for the following weekend, since the championship game's on Saturday?"

"Oh, oh!" At Kim's confused look, Ron smiled brightly, raising his voice excitedly as he scooted back in his seat and fumbled around his pockets, before yanking out two tickets and proudly displaying them on the table. "Forgot to tell you, KP, my dad won a pair of tickets to the amusement park next week in Upperton in his office pool yesterday. We can go there on Sunday, and..."

"Sunday?" Kim's face fell as she brushed back her hair. "Can't do, Ron... My family's going to visit Cousin Joss next weekend, remember? We'll be lucky to be in Sheridan or Casper, Wyoming by late Sunday afternoon..."

"Oh yeah..." Ron sighed as he slumped back in his seat dejectedly. "I guess I forgot about that too... Man, I thought we could spend some time together this weekend and have some fun next weekend too..."

"It's okay, Ron," Kim reached out and placed her hand on his reassuringly. "We'll do something together _this_ weekend after the big game..." She made sure to put a suggestive lilt in her voice, hoping her boyfriend got the hint of her ideas on 'something'.

"Yeah, I know..." Ron sighed as he stared at the tickets on the table. He had indeed smile at Kim's suggestion of 'something', but still appeared to be quite bummed out. "Well, I guess I better see if Felix and Zita want them..."

"Hang on a minute," Kim interrupted him suddenly. "Why don't the two of you go together?"

"Shego?" Ron asked the startled woman.

"Who? Me?" Shego echoed in surprise. "Woah, hey, I'm a bit too old for amusement parks..."

"No way!" Ron replied enthusiastically. "You're never too old to go to an amusement park! And hey, I'll show you the Ron Stoppable way to enjoy amusement parks!"

"He's not serious, is he?" Shego asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Trust me," Kim reassured the mint-hued woman with a smile. "Ron knows his way around amusement parks like he knows his cheeses. Besides, weren't you also looking for something to do next weekend, since it's the start of Christmas break?"

"Ah... Yeah... But..." Shego glanced over at Kim before continuing. "But yeah, you know, amusement parks just aren't my thing..."

"I seem to remember you being at the Middleton Fair once..." Kim started, before being interrupted.

"I was working, Kimmie!" Shego muttered, "Besides, I have a lot of catch up work to do, and I'd rather get it done that weekend instead of putting it off 'til the end of break..."

"Oh, don't worry about work, just go have some fun together," Kim replied breezily. "After all, Ron does need some looking after at amusement parks... Don't let him eat any chili dogs no matter how badly he asks..."

"Err... Kim..." Shego nudged Kim a little roughly with her elbow. "Ladies room. Now."

"Huh? Wha-?" Kim furrowed her brow at Shego.

"You. Me. Ladies room. Now!" Shego jerked her head towards the restroom, as her eyes narrowed.

"Uh... Okay, we'll be back, Ron," Kim lamely excused herself. "Hang on." Before she could get the rest of her words out, Shego had already nudged her more than half the distance towards the restroom, leaving behind a very surprised Ron and Rufus at the booth.

"Hey, buddy..." Ron asked the little pink guy lazing tiredly on the table next to an empty taco wrapper."Why do girls _always_ have to go to the restroom together?"

"I 'unno."

* * *

After roughly pushing Kim into the bathroom, Shego slammed open the bathroom stalls one by one, to make sure that no one was inside. Satisfied they were alone, she turned to glare at the red-headed teen. "Do you mind telling me what the hell that was about?"

"Huh?" Kim asked innocently, giving the older woman a surprised look. "What do you mean?"

"Telling me to go to an amusement park with Ron?" Shego pointed out in a biting tone.

"What's wrong with that?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with that?" Shego screeched. "Apparently you don't quite get it! Were you even in the same room as that conversation or did it go 'woosh', right over your head?"

"Err… No?" Kim sighed out loud. "Calm down, Sheila. You don't need to be so sarcastic about it."

"It's just…" Shego clenched her fists angrily. "Okay… How do I explain this? Don't you get it? It's like… Ron's asking you out on a date! Hello?"

"Yeah, I got that part," Kim nodded her head slowly. "So?"

"Kim, Kim, Kimmie, Kim!" Shego shook her head with disbelief. "Sometimes you're just so thick! I can _not_ believe you're acting so oblivious!" Shego held up a finger when Kim opened her mouth to disagree, the mint-hued woman's face contorting in annoyance, "Yes, acting... I'm call bullshit on your obliviousness, Kim... I mean, not even Ron was that bad at his worst! On one hand, you get so freaking jealous every time a girl looks sideways at Ron, and then here you are, apparently _completely_ cool that Ron's going on a date with another woman?"

"Another woman?" Kim asked, her face confused, "You mean you?"

"Yes, me!" Shego growled, cutting Kim off and barely suppressing an urge to grab Kim by the neck and throttle the life out of her.

"But Ron's not going out on a date with 'another woman'," Kim reasoned, making air quotes for emphasis. "He's just hanging out with you."

Shego rolled her eyes, as she smacked her forehead, "Doy, Kim! Think of it this way: me, Ron, at the amusement park together. What is everyone bound to think?"

"That two friends are just spending Sunday at the amusement park in Upperton?" Kim ventured cautiously before turning away from Shego, the older woman's accusing glare abruptly unsettling her, "I don't know what you're getting at, Sheila!"

Shego could hear the sound of her own molars grinding. "No! No! No!" Shego found herself repeating. She reached out and spun Kim around, "Don't you turn away from me right now! I'm asking here, what the hell, Kim... Why are you setting me up on a date with Ron? Especially when he clearly wanted to go on a date with you and you alone!"

"Because it's not a date and I'm not even going to be here!" Kim protested. "You're just two friends hanging out together. That's what me and Ron use to do all the time, even before we got together!"

"Gee… And you wonder why no guy ever wants to ask you out to the spring fling…" Shego drawled sarcastically.

"I don't get it," Kim sighed suddenly. "What's the problem here? Ron wants to go with you, and I'm cool with it. So why don't you want to go?"

"Aren't you afraid that other people might think of this as a date?" Shego challenged her.

"Well, do you think of this as a date?" Kim shot back.

"Me?" Shego stammered suddenly looking very flustered. "Me? I don't… I don't think of it as a d-… Date…"

"Then there should be no problem, right?" Kim replied, as she turned around to walk towards the restroom door.

"Hold up a moment there, Kim!" Shego's voice rang out. "You really don't think there's a problem here?"

"No, not one bit," Kim shook her head. "To me, it's just two of my best friends hanging out together at an amusement park this weekend. Why should I have a problem with that?"

"Because… Because…" Shego stammered, taken aback by Kim's question and frantically wracking her brain for a reasonable response. "Because I might make a pass at him! Or something like that..."

Kim turned around to face Shego squarely, her face unreadable. "Well... You already kissed him once, Sheila... And that was no lightweight kiss!" Shego grimaced and looked away, staring at her reflection in the mirror and Kim sighed, placing a hand on Shego's shoulder. "Sheila... I wasn't meaning that in a bad way... Besides, would you make a pass at him?

"N-no..." Shego stammered, glancing back at Kim. "Maybe? I-I don't know... But... But... It could happen, right?"

"It could," Kim replied firmly. "Do you trust me, Sheila? I trust you, and I trust Ron..." Shego nodded numbly, briefly unable to speak against the red-head's sure, confident tone. "Then I trust you two..."

"Dammit, Kim, you're being impossible!" Shego snapped angrily, interrupting whatever else the red-head was going to say. "And don't give me that 'Kim Possible' crack. It's not funny anymore! You're supposed crazy jealous... Y'know, jealous and angry that Ron's asking me to the amusement park and spending the whole day with him!"

"But I'm not! I'm completely cool with all of this!" Kim replied with conviction. She cocked her head to the side and looked curiously at the older woman. "What's _really_ the matter, Sheila? Why are you so worked up over this?"

"I… I just…" Shego stopped for a moment as she struggled to clear her own thoughts. "Look, it just seems too much like a date to me… And I… I can't! I'm not... I..." Shego lost her will to speak and turned away in shame, tearing her shoulder away from Kim's friendly grasp.

"Sheila," Kim called her name softly, gingerly stepping closer to the older woman. To Shego's surprise, the shorter woman pulled her into a deep hug and held her there quietly for a moment. "Sheila," Kim murmured in a low tone. "Do you want it to be a date?"

"Kimmie!" Shego hissed as she stiffened in Kim's arms, as she jerked away in surprise. "I, wha-…" Shego choked back in surprise.

"Hey, it's okay with me," Kim looked at the older woman with genuine concern in her eyes. "I don't quite get you, Sheila. Are you mad at me because I don't think that this is a date between the two of you? Or is there something else? Be honest with me, Sheila. Do you want this to be a date?"

"No… No… Not like this," Shego shook her head, bitterly. "I just… I just… Kim, I can't do this anymore… I would really rather you got angry with me or hated me or... Something! I just... The way you act... It's like... You don't see me as a threat..."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked, askance. "You're my best friend next to Ron, why the Hell would you be a threat?"

"I…" Shego turned around and placed her hands on the sink, while staring at her own reflection in the mirror. "It's like… I will never have a chance with Ron… Do you know what I mean?"

"No… I don't und-…"

"Forget it," Shego shook her head. "I said too much already… Just forget about it, okay?"

"C'mon, Sheila," Kim placed a hand on Shego's shoulder. "Talk to me. I'm still your friend, right?"

"I…" Shego hung her head. "I just want to believe… That if I tried, and if I ever had a chance, Ron would be mine." She let out a small, hollow laugh. "Hell, I'm just a stupid woman, always backing the wrong horse that would never get me anywhere. Hego, Drakken, Ron… I mean, why else would a whore like me stick around, hoping that I had a chance in Hell that man I love would love me back..."

"But you're not..." Kim shook her head in disbelief, "He does, Sheil-..."

"Don't!" Shego's voice hardened. "Don't tell me that. You don't get to say anything because you're in a happy relationship with that very man already!"

"What do you want me to do?" Kim asked softly.

"I don't know…" Shego squeezed her eyes shut. "I just wished that somehow, I could be… I could be your rival for Ron's love."

"But you are!"

"No I'm not!" Shego turned around to look furiously at Kim. "I'm not! Don't you get it! The way you two act around me? It's as though my feelings don't matter! It's like no matter what I do, Ron would never love me the way he loves you! Even if you give me a head start or let me go on a hundred dates with him like this one..."

"Sheila," Kim dipped her head as she whispered mournfully, reaching for Shego's shoulder. "I'm sorry…"

Shego shrugged off Kim's hand and whirled around to face Kim with reddened eyes. Forcing herself to echo a laugh, she rebuked the red-head. "What are you sorry about, Kim?" she tried to put as much snark as she could into her voice. "It's not your fault. That's the way love is: if someone wins, someone else loses… And that loser is me… I just… I just…" Shego choked back on her voice as she turned away to face a blank wall, leaning against the sink and tilting her head slightly back, not to let the tears run down her cheeks.

"Sheila," Kim called out to her. "You're wrong… You're not a loser… Because I haven't won yet. Didn't you tell me that the altar's the finishing line?"

"Yeah, but you two are as good as married already."

"But like you said, anything can happen between now and then. It will be a long time before that topic comes up," Kim sighed, before pressing on in a low voice. "I never told you this, but I'm afraid of how quickly you're catching up… In four months, Ron has already confessed that he has feelings... That he _loves_ you. It took _us_ an entire childhood, an army of robots, a demented aspiring world conqueror and a world crisis to realize we love each other."

Shego fell silent, as she felt something tear a little in her heart. "If only Drakken and I hadn't tried to take over the world…" Shego joked wryly, before shaking her head.

"But let me tell you something," Kim replied, continuing as if Shego hadn't said anything. "I don't mind if you win Ron's heart…"

"You're not giving me that again!" Shego raised her voice angrily, which was pretty hard to do with a dry mouth and a runny nose. Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, she turned and glared angrily at Kim. "You're not giving up your happiness for my sake! I will not take Ron if you just gave him up like that, I told you already…"

"No, I don't mean that…" Kim shook her head. "I mean to say… I'm not going to give Ron up, just like that. Ron made me see that, and I'll be forever grateful that he stopped me from making the dumbest decision in my life. But…" Kim heaved a sigh. "If somehow… Things don't work out between us… If there was anyone else that I'd wish Ron would find happiness with, it'd be you. Because I know you'll care for him 'cause you love him as much as I do…"

"Woah, woah… Hold up there, Kim, what do you mean if things don't work out between the two of you?" Shego blinked twice. "Did something happen with..."

"No," Kim interrupted, sighing slightly. "Everything's fine, but the way I see it now, Ron has two women who are very interested in him: you and me. But all I want is for Ron to be happy, and if he feels that he could be happier with you… Then I'll be happy for the both of you, because I want the two of you to be happy too."

Shego squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, as though in deep thought. "You know what, Kim?" she muttered as she finally opened her eyes. "You're just too damned selfless for your own good. If we weren't friends, I'd already have launched a smear campaign on you and have guys lining up outside your door willing to sign an affidavit that you've slept with them."

"As much as I don't want to fight, or even turn Ron's love into a 'competition'," Kim made an air quotes sign with her fingers, her voice taking on an ironic twist as she said the word, "I figured we'd keep this competition civil," Kim nodded her head with a smile. "After all, I am a cheerleader."

"So?"

Kim let out a light laugh, "Don't you know, Sheila? At least seventy percent of Middleton High's gossip and rumors begin in the girls' locker room!"

"Touché," Shego's face finally broke into a shadow of a smile. "So I take it that you don't mind me handling the goods this weekend?"

"Oh? How do you know that I haven't already asked Wade to record every single move that Ron makes on all that security cameras in the amusement park?" Kim replied with a twinkle in her eye.

"Damn, Kim..." Shego let out a low whistle, a matching, mischievous twinkle answering Kim's. "You've gotten better at this stalker thing."

"Not better," Kim replied with a laugh, not rising to Shego's bait. "Just sneakier."

"So how many bugs and tracking devices have you already planted on Ron?" Shego ribbed.

"Sheila, Sheila, Sheila," Kim sported a wide grin. "You know better than to ask that. Why would I want to reveal _all_ my secrets to the competition?"

"Touché, Kim, touché," Shego raised an eyebrow as she looked at Kim with newfound respect. "So again, you're cool with me going on this date with Ron?"

"More than cool," Kim nodded her head. "At least you will keep away any skanky, nasty women or girls like your friend Alex from coming within a five mile radius of Ron."

"Right," Shego replied in agreement. "At least that's one thing we both agree on. So shall we head back out? Ron must be wondering what's taking us so long."

"Sure," Kim led the way as she held the door open for Shego. "After you."

"Kim, a final word of advice," Shego said as she stopped before stepping out of the bathroom. "If you continue to be this nice to me, Ron will be mine in no time."

"Bring it on," Kim challenged back with a smile on her lips. Despite her smile, she couldn't help but feel a nagging suspicion that Shego wasn't as into the 'competition' for Ron as she let on.

"Oh, I intend to bring _it_. _It_ is what I bring!" Shego laughed as she wiped the last vestiges of her emotional outburst from her face. She strode out the door, feeling more confident that she had in a long time, unconsciously dispelling some Kim's conclusion about her desire for the competition. With an evil thought forming in her head, she sauntered up to Ron, adding a little skip in her step, "Hey, Ron."

"Ah…" Ron looked up in puzzlement at the older woman. "So what did I miss?"

"Oh nothing much," Shego replied breezily as she glanced at Kim with a barracuda-like grin. "Kim must've eaten ate something bad this morning, 'cause she just turned the ladies room into a toxic waste dump!" Shego waved her hand in front of her nose for emphasis, trying to keep herself from bursting out in laughter. "If it wasn't a ladies room, you so wouldn't want to go in there!"

"So not!" Kim protested as she shoved Shego playfully. Giving Shego a look, she quietly whispered, "So if that's how you want to play, fine!" Turning back to Ron, she announced, "Though I did see Sheila picking her nose this morning during gym class when she thought no one was looking. And that wasn't the first time…"

"I do not pick my nose!"

"And I didn't turn the ladies room into a toxic waste dump!"

The two women turned to square off, glaring at each other for a tense minute, before Ron decided that for the safety of Middleton and its citizens, he'd better intervene. "Ah… Guys? Simmer down? Now's not the time to fight…" Rufus squeaked an agreement as Ron glanced around significantly at the restaurant and the other patrons starting to stare at the four of them.

It was Kim who cracked first, as her lips twitched, which slowly gave way to a wide smile. And Shego similarly broke out in a soft chuckle at first before growing into a full hearty laugh as she sat down. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Shego commented, "You're good, Kim, I'll give you that."

"Likewise, Sheila," Kim laughed.

"Uh guys?" Ron looked utterly confused as he shared a glance with Rufus. "Dammit Rufus, like I said, it's easier to learn Klingon than understand girls."

Just as the laughter died down, Kim looked squarely at Shego, a questioning eyebrow raised at the raven haired beauty, "So you two are going to the amusement park next weekend, right?"

"Well," Shego felt a little tinge of heat on her face as she tried her best not to look at Ron, "If Ron doesn't mind hanging out with me…" She muttered embarrassedly, demurring on the side of caution. Kim gave her a hearty smile, shaking her head and making Shego wonder again what, exactly, the red-head was up to.

"Of course not!" Ron gushed enthusiastically, "It'll be great, we'd ride the Thundering Typhoon and Gigantor Gravitator! Then we'll join the hot dog eating contest before…"

Shego glanced over at Kim with an amused smile, as Ron rattled off his proposed schedule for the day. "Thanks," she mouthed, as she reached under the table and gave Kim's hand a grateful squeeze.

"No prob," Kim mouthed back, her smile turning into a friendly smirk.

The moment was shattered as a familiar beeping emanated from Kim's purse. The red-head quickly yanking the offending device out and answered it tersely, "Go, Wade..."

"Hey Kim," Wade's tone sobered slightly, "I have got some info for you. But it's really weird and I don't quite get it myself."

"What's it about?" Kim asked, before placing the Kimmunicator on the table, and letting everyone else watch the screen curiously.

"It's about the platinum blonde woman Shego and Ron fought," Wade answered in a deadpan tone. Silence descended on the group except for the low growling radiating from the back of Shego's throat. "As you told me, she's a mercenary who goes by the trade name Miss ANThropy, right?"

"What's the sitch with her?" Kim asked, as her mood turned serious. "Actually, wait... Let's take this out to someplace more private, like Shego's car..." The all agreed and filed out to the former thief's car, where Kim settled the Kimmunicator down on the center console. "Go ahead, Wade."

"Well," Wade scratched his head as he spoke, "According to _official_ records," Wade typed a few commands into his computer, bringing up the dossier he'd compiled, "Her name is Agatha Nicole Thropy, the A, N, and Thropy in her 'trade name' being derived from her real name, of course. Agatha Nicole Thropy died about ten years ago during a raid on a terrorist cell in Europe..."

"Horseshit!" Shego blurted out.

"Exactly, so I did a li'l more digging..." Wade nodded in agreement. He typed a few more commands, and suddenly several files flashed across the screen. Wade narrated while the information passed by. "Apparently, she's from a farming family, the youngest of three siblings, two older brothers, one deceased. They lived near Des Moines, Iowa, and while her family was generally the 'typical' Midwestern farming family, there were some significant differences..."

"Y'mean other than living about twenty miles from one of the Midwest's larger cities?" Shego asked.

"Yes," Wade replied, bringing up some old newspaper photographs showing a girl in a martial arts _gi_. "From her youngest years, she was quite the tomboy, enrolling in Shorin-ryu kenpo at five, USTF/ITF Tae-Kwon Do at seven, and tiger style kung fu at the same age, eventually specializing in short blade and knife fighting. She earned her fourth degree black belt in Shorin-ryu by age fourteen then quit the style, fourth dan in TKD by seventeen, and was a sifu for the knife combat by fifteen. In high school, she even went so far as to force her way onto the varsity football team, and was their star running back from her sophomore through her senior year, helping them win the state championships all three years."

"Wow," Ron said over the low, impressed whistles from Kim and Shego, "That's why she seems so damn tough… And a knife fighting instructor? That's explains her knife skills…"

"Exactly, but it gets better..." Wade muttered, taking a breath and shaking his head in what could only be described as awe, "She joined the US Army infantry two years after graduating Valley High School in Des Moines, where she excelled. After earning her marksman badge, she was invited to join the Army sniper school."

"Wait, invited? That's rare, even for men..." Kim muttered, staring at the mostly blacked out document on the Kimmunicator's screen.

"Sniper school, huh?" Shego said mildly, sharing a neutral expression with Kim.

Wade paused in his presentation of the dossier to fix them with a hard stare. "Yes, and she passed with such ease that she was invited to join the Special Forces. Despite the invite, though she turned them down, saying she wanted to have experience in the field before even thinking about Spec Ops. They agreed with her logic, and instead sent her off on two and a half tours of duty," He typed a few commands, displaying a mostly blacked out report onscreen.

"Wade..." Shego asked in a strained voice, ignoring the questioning glance Kim gave her. "How good was she? I mean... Would she miss a target from less than a hundred meters?"

"No," Wade said with certainty, "She was one of the best. There were only two other snipers having higher kill totals than her seventy confirmed kills, and her target practice scores were about the same..."

"That bitch..." Shego said in quiet rage, her clenched fist starting to flare up. A pair of hands on her shoulder brought her up short, and she glanced at her shoulder, seeing Kim and Ron's hands resting there, both offering her support. She glanced up, seeing a concerned expression on Wade and Rufus' faces, a knowing but understanding expression on Kim's face, and a slightly confused but otherwise worried one on Ron's. "I... Sorry, guys, Nerdlinger... I'm alright..."

"You sure?" Kim and Ron both asked. Shego nodded, and Kim looked at Wade's image on the screen, nodding for him to continue.

"Um," Wade grunted, continuing his presentation. "After being wounded in action, the Army didn't send her back out into the field, but pushed her to accept their offer for Spec Ops. She accepted after her recovery in the Walter Reed Medical Center, making her the fifty-seventh woman since your grandmother to be in US Spec Ops... Once again, she excelled at her new job within the army, performing various actions for the CIA, NSA, ATF and of course the Army, until she was finally approached by someone working in military R&D, looking for volunteers..."

"Wait a minute, back up one step... Two and a half tours of duty..." Kim asked, her face scrunched up in confusion. "But she supposedly died before the current conflicts we're involved in, and none of the ones we've been in have been long enough for that since Vietnam..."

"Yeah, she doesn't look that much older than Shego! That makes no sense..." Ron protested in shock, earning an agreeing nod from Kim and Shego.

"Yes, about that..." Wade said uncomfortably, squirming in his chair as if what he was about to say bothered him on a fundamental level. "Her tours of duty _were_ during the Vietnam War…"

"B-But... How? That's... Wade, she doesn't look like she's..." Kim paused, looking up as she did some quick mental calculations, "Fifty four?"

Wade nodded in answer to Kim's outburst, and a deep, dead silence encapsulated Shego's car. A speck of dust could probably have been heard landing, and a pin would have sounded like a gunshot. Finally, Shego cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Wade... How accurate are these sources?"

"Very." Wade nodded to emphasize his point, speaking in a deadpan manner. "The photos of her in martial arts competitions? Taken from untainted newspaper archives I have access to. The military records? The blacked out ones are accurate and untouched, and I have ways of confirming it. The rest of the information, well... It came straight out of Global Justice's database..."

"What?" The volume of all four voices in the car was deafening, forcing a pained wince from Wade.

"Wade," Shego growled, "Who the fuck has access to the files?"

"I'm not sure, actually..." the tech genius answered in a clearly impressed tone, "They were buried deep, and they had no current code phrases or passwords connected to them. I was lucky to find them at all! In fact..." Wade thought for a moment, then nodded as if coming to a conclusion, "I think someone would need a dongle, or some kind of physical passkey, to access the files if they went in any way other than the way I did."

"Ok," Shego grated, a subtle feeling of betrayal slowly building in the pit of her stomach, "So how the Hell does she look my age?"

"I don't know," Wade shrugged as he tapped away at his computer. "But I know someone who might. Look at this." Instantly the live feed of the camera in Wade's room disappeared and was instantly replaced by a still frame from a security camera that looked like an HD broadcast, despite the timestamp stating the image was taken in nineteen ninety-five. There were eight people standing around a computer console, all dressed in lab coats, but some of them clearly had military fatigues underneath them.

Squinting closely at the photograph, Shego let out a cry of surprise as she stabbed at the picture angrily with her index finger. "That's her, isn't it?" Shego growled. "The woman second from the right. With the light-colored hair, military boots and... Wait, that can't be her, she doesn't have an eyepatch... And that's pretty high resolution for a security camera, isn't it?"

Kim studied the face of the solemn woman who looked at the computer screen, as though concentrating on something else on her mind. "Sheila, my dad's workplace has used HD cameras for security for literally a couple decades... And it's not as high value, hush-hush as this place would be, right?" Kim said quietly, earning a grudging nod from Shego. "And that's definitely her, I'll never forget her eyes..." Kim shuddered briefly, then shook her head, concentrating on the screen. "Wade, is that timestamp accurate?"

"According to the date on the archives," Wade's voice came from the background. "This was taken approximately thirteen years ago. And you're right about the installation; the still is from some military research outfit that I can't even find the name for. If there was ever any proof that such a group existed, well, you're looking at it. And I don't think it was just coincidence that this photo was taken around the same time as Miss ANThropy 'died'. I mean, the Internet has been known to spin conspiracy theories on lesser evidence than this."

"Right, so what does this photo tell us?" Kim asked.

"You mean you don't see it?" Wade sounded surprised. "Take a look at the man on her right. Doesn't he look familiar at all?"

"Wait a minute…" Shego drew a sharp breath as she snatched the Kimmunicator out of Kim's hands and peered at the picture carefully, fiddling with the device until she found the zoom function. "I know that ponytail anywhere," Shego breathed under her breath. "Drakken…"

"What?" the teens echoed in surprise as they craned their necks over the console to take a second look at the man beside Miss ANThropy.

"No way… Is it?" Ron mumbled to himself.

"But he looks so… Young…" Kim gaped at the photo.

"Yeah, like I said," Wade replied. "This photo was taken twelve years ago, and the man in that picture didn't call himself Drakken yet, instead his employee ID number was Researcher #2116, and it's definitely him. The name on the paychecks was Drew Theodore Perceval Lipsky."

"Perceval?" Shego balked at his other middle name. "Anyway… What does Drakken have to do with _that_ woman?" Her voice broke out with an accusing sneer.

"I'm sorry, but that's as a far as I got. Everything else seems to be hidden beyond my reach," Wade replied apologetically. "Sorry, guys."

"It's okay, Wade," Kim replied grimly. "At least we have a lead now. All we need to do is get Dr. Director to let us have a little chat with Drakken... _Then_ we'll find out more about this…"

"Oh yeah," Shego nodded her head as she growled softly. "We are _so_ going to have a little chat."

"Uh… Okay…" Wade gulped at the thinly veiled threat. "Anyway, I'll go see what else I can dig up."

"Later Wade," Kim replied as she took the Kimmunicator from Shego and slipped it into her pocket. Glancing around, she couldn't help but share the somber mood of her friends. "Don't worry, Ron," Kim reached out and touched his hand. "We're one step closer to finding out who this woman is, who she works for and what she wants…"

"That's not it, Kim…" Ron replied after a heavy sigh. "It's just… Kim… She's dangerous… She kidnapped you and almost killed you… I almost lost you there… And I… I don't know what I would do to her if I see her again…"

"Ron… I'm still here," Kim squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It's okay, I won't let something like that happen again."

"I know… But… I just can't help but feel…" Ron let out a long sigh.

"I know, Ron, I know…" Kim replied. "But this time, we're ready for her. Nothing like that is going to happen again, right, Sheila?"

"Hell, yeah," Shego mumbled under her breath as she clenched her fists tightly. "This time, she owes all of us! _She's_ gonna be the one hurting instead."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Yeah… This update has been a long time coming, and I've been trying to finish my other fic. Of course that doesn't mean I've been slacking off, in fact, this one chapter took twelve versions and countless subversions. And on top of that, somehow, because of a combination of technical failure, discombobulated databits, interrupted Internet access, ISP issues and human error, we apparently lost one updated version that set us back a bit. Yeah, the pain of technology.

Anyway, got things set up, a little progress in the underlying main story, and I think something big is going down. It's sort of back to mission mode, but I guess there's that date for Shego with Ron that she can finally look forward to.

I'm trying to frame it a certain way, that Shego's feelings are all over the place? I mean, she's clearly not making a move out of respect for Kim and Ron, but she clearly likes Ron and doesn't want to move on with her feelings. It is sort of that rut that she got herself stuck in, and from what I gather about Shego, I don't know… Maybe she feels that if she were to pursue her relationship with Ron, she'd get shot down so fast that she would lose something, maybe that's why she's happier loving him from afar? And with Kim pushing them together so innocently, it sort of does bring up certain fears in her, I guess. Okay, maybe that doesn't show up in the story, but I did try to make it sound that way.

Anyway, 'nuf with the notes, I'm just glad I could push out a chapter this weekend. It has been a long week, and my weekend just got shot down by a friend that came from out of town. So thanks, and enjoy.


	15. Chapter 15

She felt something touching her right hand and slowly glanced down in surprise. A small smile was etched on her lips as she saw Ron's hand gently brushing hers. Looking up at his young face, Shego saw him looking nervously, expectantly at her. She returned her look with a smile and reached out to clasp his hand in hers before her courage left her. And at the same time they both looked away in embarrassment. But still, neither one wanted to let go.

After a moment of standing in silence, Ron finally cleared his throat. "So Shego, we got time for one last ride before the place closes… What do you want to do?"

Shego cast her eyes over the carnival, trying to make up her mind. This normally easy decision was made difficult due to the night she had already enjoyed, and compounded greatly with Ron still holding on to her hand and looking at her tenderly. It didn't really matter what she rode anymore, as long as it was with Ron. She looked over to the game stalls and food carts, trying to find something that would make this magical night ever more memorable. Glancing up, she finally saw what she wanted to do, and in a small voice, she tilted her head up and replied, "That."

"You sure?" Ron asked, drawing a deep crimson blush from the mint-hued woman. She wasn't even sure if he had seen her coy nod, her thoughts jumbled and moving as fast as her pounding heart.

Ron 's chuckle at her reaction relaxed Shego slightly, and he tugged her towards the ride with all the youthful abandon he had shown all night. "The Ferris Wheel it is then! C'mon then!" Ron crowed gleefully.

She almost stumbled at his tug, but felt assured he'd catch her by the strong grip on her hand. It just felt so _right_ as she followed him through the throng of people, only focusing on his bobbing blond hair as hedragged her through the crowd. And, as it had been for the entire night, it was their luck that when they got to the base of the Ferris wheel, that another young couple had just gotten off and the ride operator waved them right in.

Settling in the red steel cage, they sat next to each other as the ride was put back into gear with a heavy, grinding groan. Enjoying their slow ascent to the top, Shego cast her eyes at the bright lights below. A soft lingering smile appeared on her lips as she gazed down at all the people milling about below, enjoying the festivities. It had always comforted her, being high up and detached from the throng below. Somehow up here, all her problems down there seemed so insignificant.

"Ron…" she said softly, a question on her lips as she turned to face him only to realize that his face was only inches away.

And everything else seemed to fade away at that moment. His hot breath washed over her face, causing her cheeks to redden. "Shego…" he called her name softly. "I... I've, uh..." She opened her mouth to speak when Ron stumbled over his words, and he hurriedly continued, closing his eyes with an embarrassed smile, "I've wanted to kiss you since the last time... Um..." He opened his eyes again, and added uncertainly when he beheld her neutral, blushing expression.

She felt something flare up from the pit of her stomach, but in a good way. She had half expected to be paranoid or worried about hurting Kim, but her seeming acceptance of the date, and her closeness to Ron had all but eliminated her worries. Still, her voice had left her a long time ago, and she could only nod her permission. And she closed her eyes as she leaned in, closer and closer…

And suddenly she found herself tumbling through thin air before smacking face first onto her bedroom floor with a loud thud.

"Oh f-ing hell!" Shego yelled out as she rubbed her throbbing forehead, rolling over and laid on her back in an ungainly heap at the foot of her bed. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, her vision focused and she found herself staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. With a loud groan, she realized that there was no carnival, no Ferris wheel... And most importantly no Ron on the verge of kissing her.

She raised her right hand up and studied it carefully. It had felt so real, her hand wrapped so warmly and tenderly in his. She slowly flexed her fingers trying to remember that exact feeling in her dream. Suddenly she realized what she was doing and thrust her hand underneath the hem of her pajama shirt, hiding the offending culprit.

"Dammit! Damn it all to Hell, girl, why are you letting yourself get carried away? It was just a dream about a date with Ron!" She muttered angrily to herself, letting out a strangled growl of annoyance. "Just a dream, just a dream, nothing big… Calm yourself down… Yeah, calm yourself down…" she took a few deep breaths, then shook her head in frustration. "Yeah, a cold shower, that's what you need, a _very_ cold shower…"

Groaning, she got to her feet, stretched her arms and yawned with her mouth wide open. Rubbing her eyes one last time, she tried to clear her mind. "Cold shower, cold shower," she muttered to herself over and over again like a mantra, while she peered around the bedroom for a pair of sweat pants and a sports bra.

Shego grabbed her green towel hanging behind the door and flipped it over her shoulder before walking out of her bedroom. Stumbling slowly towards the bathroom, she chanted over and over in her mind, "Cold shower, coffee, then maybe a long run and then another cold shower… Yeah that sounds good. Sounds _really_ good. Shower, coffee, run, coff-… No! Shower, then maybe some more coffee. Thick and black… Yeah…"

She pressed her entire weight at the half-opened bathroom door and stumbled in, and to her surprise she heard a clattering sound as a plastic Bic razor bounced off the tile floor. "Whu-…?"

"Ah… Err… Shego…" Ron stood before her, wearing nothing but a pair of checkered red and green boxers with a shocked look on his face.

"Err… Ah…" Shego tilted her eyes immediately upwards towards the ceiling. Gulping, she tried to mention as coolly as possible, "Guess no one locks the bathroom around here anymore…"

"Uhh… Yeah, I guess," Ron coughed a laugh, staring at her with wide eyes.

"So…" Shego found her eyes wandering to the floor, then slowly found her eyes drawn to his body. Young, smooth and cut, but not too chiseled... Not to mention lean like a mixed martial arts fighter, just her type of... And… "Cold shower!" she found herself grating out loud, a light blush tinting her features.

"Uh what?" Ron mumbled in confusion.

"Nothing!" Shego growled. "I mean… I'll leave you to your… What are you doing?" She nodded her head towards Ron's face that was covered with shaving cream.

"Ah… Shaving…" Ron replied sheepishly. "You caught me by surprise and I dropped my razor." Innocently, he bent over to pick up his dropped disposable razor from the bathroom floor, unintentionally giving Shego a clear, enticing view of his nicely toned backside.

"Oh sweet merciful God…" Shego intoned in a whisper, suddenly feeling light-headed as her face started to burn up.

"Huh? Shego, you said something?" Ron straightened back up.

"Nuthin'."

"Yeah, so… So… I need to shave…" Ron raised the razor in his hand. "Do you… Ah… I need a minute…"

"Oh… Oh…" Shego blushed as she shook her head. "Sorry… I'm sorry… Wait… Why are you shaving?"

"Uh…" Ron stared at his razor for a moment. "I guess it's because Kim finds it a little too ticklish?" He blushed slightly as his eyes became unfocused briefly, then hurriedly refocused on Shego, "She likes the look, too, but…"

"Well, they do tickle, especially on the more sensitive parts of the body," Shego replied with a husky voice, picking up on Ron's train of thought easily. They stared at each other in silence before Shego snorted and covered her mouth to hide her laughter. With a twinkle in her eye, she pushed into the bathroom and pried the razor out from his hand. "Do you mind?"

"Uh… What do you plan to do with that?" Ron eyed the blade in her hand nervously.

"I have a better suggestion… Do you trust me?"

"Uh… I do, but what are you going to do?"

"Shh… You'll see…" she gently tilted back Ron's head with her finger, and while holding his jaw steady, she traced a line down his sideburns to his chin with the razor. She left a narrow patch of shaving cream left in the center, stretching from his lower lip to the end of what was his goatee. Then she shaved the fuzz of his mustache with deft, knowledgeable movements, taking great care not to cut him.

"Um, Shego?" Ron asked as she pulled the razor away to rinse it off in the sink, drawing her eyes briefly to his, "I can finish, really... I've been doing this a couple years no-..."

"Ron, you trust me, right?" She asked as she returned to shaving, her voice holding the barest hint of worry in it. He grunted affirmatively, and she smiled shyly as she moved the razor. "I think I've got enough experience shaving my… Ah… You know what I mean, so never mind!" Shego paused for a moment as a hot flush crawled up her face, and she continued in a rush, Besides, I think you'll like it."

Ron blushed heavily and gave a noncommittal grunt as she started in on the underside of his chin and throat, before finally pulling the razor away and washing it one last time before setting it next to the sink. "Done?" he asked with a slight lilt of anticipation in his voice.

"Yup, I'm done," Shego murmured a moment later as she wiped off the last vestiges of shaving cream with a washcloth.

As she finished, she glanced up just to see a pair of hazel-brown eyes gazing deeply into hers. His face was only inches away, and her left hand trailed slowly down his cheek. Feeling another hot flush coming over her face, she took an awkward step back.

"So… How do you like it?" she asked, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

"Ah… You missed a spot…"

"It's meant to be like that, silly!" Shego laughed, forgetting about the tension in the room for a moment as Ron scratched at a small little fuzz on his chin. "It's called a soulpatch…"

"Soulpatch, eh? I like it!" Ron grinned as he tilted his head and studied his new look.

"Good," Shego nodded her head with satisfaction. "Besides, I think you look a _lot_ sexier like that... Maybe even a little more grown up…"

"Sexier?"

"I meant…" Shego stammered. "For Kim… I think Kim will find this look sexier… It looks good on you… That's all…" she swallowed slightly as he raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Really good..." she muttered softly as she briefly looked away to set the washcloth on the sink cabinet.

"Look, I…"

"Maybe I should…"

Shego let out a nervous cough and cleared her throat before assuming a voice of authority she usually reserved for her students in school, "I'll let you get back to your…" her eyes glazed over as she gave his body a look-over. Shaking her head and resuming control of her raging emotions, she tried as calmly as she could. "… Whatever you were doing, I'll just take my shower la-…"

"Nah, the Ron-man's all done here," Ron grinned happily. "Go ahead take your shower now, and I'll catch you later for breakfast, okay?"

"Right…" She watched as Ron happily walked out of the bathroom, completely at ease even though he was clad in nothing more than a pair of red and green checkered boxers. With a strangled noise in her throat, she quickly slammed the door shut, a little harder than she'd intended, and made extra sure that she latched the door tight before leaning against it. Sweeping the hair out of her face, she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Dammit, morning hair…" Shego muttered to herself as she stared at her mangy image in the mirror. "I really need that cold shower."

Shego found breakfast waiting for her while Jean was feeding Hana. The toddler was sitting in her baby-seat by the kitchen table and Jean was busy trying to convince the little ninja baby to eat some mashed peas. The raven-haired woman walked by and poked the toddler's button nose and giggled as Hana turned and held out her hands expectantly.

"No, not yet," Shego chided the toddler with a smile. "Not until you eat your breakfast…"

"Sheila," Jean held out the plastic spoon and bowl to Shego. "Do you mind helping me feed Hana for a moment? She doesn't seem to want to eat. I'll fix some breakfast for you while you do it."

"No problem, Jean." She took the plastic spoon in her hand and sat down at the kitchen table next to Hana. "C'mon here, you little monster… Open wide…" Shego made little burbling noises as she tried her best to convince Hana to eat her breakfast.

"Aww… That's cute…"

Shego whirled around in surprise to look at Ron. "Cute?" Shego narrowed her eyes. "I don't do cute…"

Ron laughed as he pulled a chair up on the other side of Hana. "Nah, I was meaning Hana… But you get bonus cute points for making those airplane noises."

"Well, let's see you feed your sister without the airplane noises…" Shego mumbled indignantly. "She's being impossible!"

"You were doing such a great job, I wouldn't wanna to interrupt," Ron grinned as he took two slices of toast out of the toaster and started slathering on butter, jam and peanut butter.

"You just want to eat."

"Nope, the whole reason she doesn't want to eat is because that's disgusting stuff… Baby food is disgusting… Really… Now if we had Naco-flavored baby food… That's a market waiting to be tapped into!"

"Ron, you're not suggesting giving your younger sister coronary heart disease by the age of ten, are you?" Jean remarked out loud.

"No, but if baby food tasted that good, then she'd want to eat more of it, right mom?"

"Baby food doesn't taste that bad," Shego grumbled, as she threw down the spoon in frustration.

"Oh really? Then why don't you try it?"

"Fine," Shego scooped out a dollop of pale green mush and placed it in her mouth. Her face screwed up in disgust for a moment, before she scrambled out of the chair for the kitchen sink. "Fah! That's gross! What is this stuff?"

Holding his sides in laughter, Ron wasn't aware of the danger before a strong pair of hands had gripped his chair's backrest and tugged as hard as possible, spilling the startled blond onto the floor. He could only look up on his back at a reddened face, framed with lovely long black hair, before he started chortling again.

"That wasn't funny…" Shego growled as she placed her hands on her hips. Ron's laughing had done little to improve her mood since this morning's incident.

"But… But…" Ron gasped through his laughing. "I told you so!"

"That's it," Shego muttered in a huff, as she picked Hana up from her baby-seat. "Hana, let's leave your idiot brother alone. I'm going to get you some real food for a change."

A loud honking sound was heard from the driveway, and Ron managed to recover enough to crawl back into his chair, still occasionally letting out small snorts of laughter. "That's Kim…" he finally manages as he sobered. "She's early today, I thought she'd come around by lunch time…"

"What does she want?" Shego asked grouchily as she carried Hana with one hand while looking through the kitchen cabinet for something for the baby.

"I don't know… Maybe there's a mission or something."

"Right then, guess you better run off with your girlfriend."

"Later then, Shego," Ron waved to her as he grabbed a slice of toast and ran out of the kitchen. "I hope Kim likes the new look."

"Stupid Ron," Shego muttered under her breath as she turned to watch him go. "Stupid, stupid Ron…"

"Sheila, did you say something?" Jean looked up from the sink.

"No, nothing…" Shego blushed as she went back to perusing the foodstuffs in the cabinets. "I was just talking to myself."

"Calling someone you love 'stupid' is kind of harsh, isn't it, Sheila?" Jean asked in a good natured tone.

"Love?" Shego hacked and coughed as she swallowed hard, feeling something go down her windpipe. She looked over, barely able to hide the red hue spreading across her face. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing…" Jean smiled knowingly as she turned back to preparing breakfast. "It's just that I've been hearing something about a date…"

"Woah, hold up there Jean," Shego blurted out in a panic. "I'm not sure what you've heard, but you got it all wrong… Really… I mean, it's not what you think…"

"Really?" Jean mused thoughtfully. "So it's not just a friends-night-out at the carnival with no strings attached?"

"No!" Shego protested before her mind registered Jean's words. "Wait… I mean… Yeah! That's exactly it… Just a night out with friends… Yeah… Nothing more… Really…"

"Oh really?" Jean replied slowly as she strode towards the kitchen table and set down a plate of steaming hot French toast. After wiping her hands on her apron, Jean studied Shego's face for a moment, before breaking out into a smile. "Don't you want it to be something more than just a night out with friends?"

"I… I…" Blushing furiously, she turned her face towards Hana. At least the little toddler couldn't read her like a book.

"It's okay…" Jean reached out and patted her hand gently. "Just to let you know, I've also become really fond of you."

"Huh?" Shego looked up quizzically at the woman, who was favoring her with a strangely knowing, yet melancholy smile. Before she could get a word out edgewise, a loud yell echoed into the kitchen.

"Shego!" Ron suddenly called from the living room.

"What is it?" she yelled back, more out of annoyance than anything.

"Kim said GJ just called. Dr. Director wants to speak to us now, including you."

"Fu-…." She caught herself just as she glanced down at Hana's cherubic innocent face. "Fudge monkeys…" Shego found herself growling, as she handed a surprised Hana over to Jean. "This day just doesn't get any better, does it?"

* * *

"Glad to see you could make it, Team Possible," Dr. Director nodded, then her eyes narrowed as she focused on the third figure that had just slipped into her office behind Kim and Ron. "What are you doing here, Sheila?"

"Woah, down bitch," Shego rolled her eyes at the tone. "Stop pretending that it's your time of the month; Kimmie said you called me down here?"

"Miss Possible?" Dr. Director raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" Kim murmured sheepishly as she glanced around at the three pairs of eyes focusing on her. "You did say you want Team Possible down here ASAP…"

"Hold up one minute there, Kimmie," Shego gritted her teeth. "What do you mean _Team Possible_?"

"Surprisingly I find Shego agreeable today…" Dr. Director blithely noted while shooting daggers at the raven-haired woman. "I was under the impression that I was meeting Team Possible _only._"

"Yeah, well…" Kim glanced at her toes, with a shadow of a smile on her lips. "This _is_ Team Possible. And you did say if Sheila worked with the good guys again…"

A hacking cough resounded behind the red-head as a certain ex-villainess drew in a sharp breath and glared at the back of the young teen heroine. "Excuse me… _Excuse_ me…" Shego replied sardonically. "I must be in the wrong dimension… I don't recall ever joining Team Possible."

"Don't you want to be on Team Possible?" Kim asked in a soft voice, before she drooped her shoulders slightly, tilted her head at a slight angle to her left, before her lower lip started to quiver. "Please?"

"Gah! What the hell _is_ that?" Shego snapped out before her voice started to waver. "It makes me... I… Just wanna... Reach out… And hold you tight until the pain goes away…"

"KP, that's not really fair for Shego, is it?" Ron suddenly piped in, as he covered his eyes with both his hands. "C'mon, let's just try asking her, she'll probably join us anyway."

As quickly as the puppy dog pout came, it was replaced with a wide grin on Kim's face. "So... Shego, you wanna be a part of Team Possible? Go out there and kick bad guys' asses?"

"Whu… What the hell?" Shego murmured dazedly as she glanced around nervously trying to readjust her bearings as Dr. Director snorted from behind her desk and opened her mouth to speak. A sharp look from Shego kept her from saying what was obviously on her mind as Shego felt a hand clasp her shoulder. She turned sharply and saw Ron peeking out from between his fingers, and making sure that the coast was clear.

"That, young grasshopper, is the one-and-only Possible-patented puppy dog pout," Ron answered sagely. "That's how Kim gets what she wants… You won't believe how many shopping trips I had to go with Kim and carry her stuff just because of that…"

"That's… That's…" Shego stammered a little. "My brain just turned to mush…" Shego muttered, remembering the last time someone had turned that kind of look on her.

"There's no way of avoiding it," Ron shook his head solemnly. "Try all you want but…"

Shego shuddered a little. "You mean she can make you do whatever she wants you to do?"

"Hey, at least she only uses it for good," Ron shrugged nervously. "And the occasional Club Banana sale for Monique's employee discount."

"So how about it?" Kim asked impatiently. "I thought it would be good if you started going on missions with us."

"I'm not working for her," Shego murmured hotly, as she glanced over at a stoic Dr. Director.

"No, no… Team Possible doesn't work for GJ," Kim added hastily. "We're volunteers…"

"Hell, if there's one thing worse than working for GJ, it's working for GJ for free…" Shego groaned out loud. "The pay was probably the only thing that kept me here the last time."

"But we get favors in return from GJ!" Kim pointed out.

"Sure, yeah, I know how it works for you," Shego snorted. "You get favors from GJ so that you can do _more_ missions. That's like getting paid with more work. Hell, Kim, I know you want to get into a good college, but even this is too extreme for extra-curricular points."

"But don't you want to help people?"

Shego looked at her as though she had sprouted another head. Then she buckled over and started laughing as hard as she could. "Boy…" she wheezed through gales of laughter. "That's rich… Hell, Kim, I thought you knew me better than that… One of the reasons I turned to villainy… It pays _way _better than doing volunteer work…"

"C'mon, Sheila, I know you don't mean that…" Kim chirped in a syrupy sweet voice, "I know under that tough girl exterior is a kind and sweet woman who likes hugs and doesn't mind helping people."

Shego shot an accusing look at Ron and growled through gritted teeth, "I _don't_ like hugs, okay? If you want, I'll go out there and steal candy from babies and kick puppies, just so that you know that I'm evil, okay? So we're not having this discussion anymore, 'kay? What? What are you smiling at?"

Kim was positively beaming at her, as she turned and gave Ron a knowing smile. "That's sweet, isn't it, Ron?" Kim cooed.

"Yup, KP, I think you're spot on."

"What?" Shego growled as she glared at the two teens that looked like they were telepathically communicating. "What do you mean?"

"She just doesn't get it, does she?" Kim asked Dr. Director. "It's pretty obvious."

"Well, Sheila has always been that way…" Dr. Director wore an evil grin as she looked at Shego.

"We _know_ that you aren't going to kick any puppies soon," Kim explained knowingly. "You're just pretending to be a bad girl…"

"Hell, no… You got it all wrong…"

"In fact, she's quite good with Hana," Ron added.

"That's quite the maternal instinct she has there," Dr. Director added. "She always had a soft spot for kids, which explains her degree in child development."

"You should see how does with students at Middleton High," Kim chirped in.

"Oh yeah, that too…" Ron mused. "She somehow got Bonnie to turn over a new leaf and be nice to other students… That's definitely good."

"Hey!" Shego raised her voice. "I'm not a nice person, okay?"

"Fine," Kim nodded her head patronizingly, "We believe you. So how about it? Do you want to be a part of Team Possible?"

"Which part of 'I don't work for free!' don't you understand?" Shego almost hollered. "Since there's nothing in it for me, I'm not interested!"

"Tell you what, Sheila," Kim nodded her head slowly. "If GJ owes you favors, it also means that the head of GJ owes you favors, which _means…_"

"Oh!" Shego glanced up at looked over at Dr. Director in a renewed light. "See? Now we're talking…"

"See?" Kim smiled widely. "How about it?"

"Wait a minute, what sort of favors are these?" Shego asked curiously.

"Well," Dr. Director glanced down at her desk before shuffling through a few loose-leaf files. "I think I have a mission here. It's a week-long undercover mission to Grenada… Four-star resort, keep an eye out on the locals, and report any villainous activity that might be happening. It's really light stuff, but since you're not working for free…"

"Hold up a minute there," Shego narrowed her eyes. "How come I never got _any_ of those missions while I was with GJ?"

"Oh, you just never asked…" Dr. Director grinned evilly. "While you were still working here, Simon and I went on four such missions. Well, one of those was assigned to you, but I thought I'd relieve you of your heavy mission schedule. Besides, it gave you personal time wi-..."

"Oh fuck you!" Shego hollered loudly. "So you were ripping me off at work too? I'm not working for this back-stabbing bitch!"

"But you're not working for her! You're doing favors for her!" Kim tried to calm down the angry woman. "It's different… Now she owes you… Think about it, if she owes you favors, what could you get her to do?"

"Sorry, Kim," Shego shook her head. "Last thing I ever want to do is to answer to that… That… That bitch!"

"Forget about her!" Kim growled in exasperation. "Think about working with us! We'd get to go jetting all over the world together, not to mention hanging out together more... I know you're feeling antsy at home, and I've seen you practice your moves when you think no one's looking. And if I have any comment about your fighting style, is that you haven't lost your touch one bit."

"Have you been spying on me?"

"No, no… I was just running late from club activities a couple of times when I go past the gym and I see you there practicing your drills."

"Bah!"

"But I know, that you're actually itching to get some action," Kim went on. "You and Drakken used to pull off one big heist every two weeks, and I don't believe you're settling into domestic life as well as you say you are."

"It's just a change in pace," Shego replied, sounding miffed. "I'll get used to it."

"Yeah, but don't you want to go out and let loose a little?" Ron suddenly interjected, a surprisingly knowing smirk on his face.

"Maybe…" Shego muttered. "But I'm still…"

"Let's just try it once okay?" Kim asked pleadingly. "Just this one mission. If you like it, then hey, let's keep it up. Otherwise, I promise I won't ask you again."

"You know, Kim," Shego sighed wearily. "I don't really have a good track record as a hero. I've fucked-up more than a couple of times, and people _died_ one of those times..."

"You've saved both our lives," Ron insisted firmly, placing a hand gently on Shego's arm to strengthen his comment.

"And! Not! Just! Once!" Kim added, tapping Dr. Director's desk with each word for emphasis. "So stop being afraid of the past, and stop this damn false modesty about your abilities!" Kim placed a comfortable hand on Shego's, smiling softly at her, "Trust me, you're someone I want watching my back."

"Thought you already had Ron for that…"

"Well, he'll be watching both our backs too, so it's all good," Kim grinned. "So what do you say?"

"Well… Look Kim…" Shego shrugged. "I don't like to do things for free, but tell you what… Teach me that puppy-dog pout thing and you'll have a deal."

"Deal!" Kim quickly agreed, as she beamed happily at the raven-haired woman.

"Hoo boy," Ron's eyes widened as he glanced down at Rufus. "This is not going to be good…"

"Alright, have we got that settled now?" Dr. Director sighed impatiently, as she sat down in her seat. "I still have a mission briefing to do."

"Fire away," Kim chirped happily.

"We've recently received reports that Gemini has gotten a new backer and…"

"Gemini, as in your douche of a brother?" Shego let out a low whistle. "So why's he still alive? I thought you would have issued the executive order by now."

"GJ does not assassinate people," Dr. Director gazed at her coldly.

"Sure… People just slip in their bathrooms, I get it," Shego muttered in a deadpan tone.

"Might I remind you that we're talking about my brother here?" Dr. Director growled, "Besides, that division was closed down when I took over... Now, it's a simple surveill-..."

"I thought you said this was going to be fun." Shego muttered in an aside to Kim, earning a harsh look from Dr. Director.

"Anyway," Dr. Director cut off the mocking tone of the raven-haired woman. "Gemini's base has recently been overflowing with activity and we believe that he is up to something big. Here are some of the satellite pictures as well as various other forms of imaging we have of his base. He's building a small army right now, and I want you two… I mean, you three…"

"Hrnk!"

"Alright, you four, including the naked mole rat, to infiltrate Gemini's base and find out what he's up to."

"Can't you just send field agents to do that?" Shego purposefully let out the loudest yawn she could muster as she stretched her arms. "A complete noob co-..."

"We've lost contact with our last two undercover agents…" Dr. Director replied. "We can only hope for the best in their case, and I wouldn't like to send any more men to infiltrate their base that way. I need stealth, I need you three to get in, find out the information, and get out before they realize anything."

"Betts," Shego growled, as she leaned over on Dr. Director's desk and stared at her with piercing lambent eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that you are sending us on a suicide mission that you wouldn't send one of your own agents on?"

"Because, I have confidence that you four are able to fight your way out should the need arise," Dr. Director replied calmly.

"Woah, hang on a minute now, Betts. You were going to send Princess here on this mission? And don't tell me: no backup or evac, either?"

"She has you to 'watch her back' as she would put it."

"But what if I had said no to joining Team Possible?"

"Then it is fortunate that you said yes."

"What do you mean by that?" Shego slammed her palm down on Dr. Director's desk. "So you're just going to let her waltz into Gemini's base, get blasted by hundreds of lasers, and expect her to get out without a scratch?"

"In a nutshell, that's exactly what I expect her to do."

"Sheila, it's okay…" Kim cut off the older woman just as she took a deep breath to launch into another tirade. "This is no big; we'll be back in time for dinner…"

"Look Kim, I've been in this business longer than you, and I know that you can't say no, but this is asinine!" Shego raised her voice. "Betts has half a dozen other men she could send for this mission, and we're not even sure if Gemini is a threat yet! He's yet to make any obvious plans, demanded nothing and for all you know, he could just be throwing a party at his island!"

"This _is_ important!" Dr. Director spoke coldly as she started an audio player on her computer. Shuffling through a stack of flash memory cards on her table, she pulled out one and inserted it into a slot on her desk and hit the play button.

A tinny, crackling was audible before there were two loud bumps. Then a breathless male voice sounded over the small speaker. "… -ver Gemini's got planned, it's big… Never seen him organize an army this size, we're looking easily over four… Hundred men, all armed with… -sma staffs, various hard weapons and muni-... and at least… -ercrafts… It looks like an invasion force but haven't… Anything… No details… -ding… Heard a few guys talking… Looks like Gemini's going to move in the next… -ple days… Requesting extraction and recommending pre-empt action…"

Dr. Director reached over and pressed the stop button. "That was the last we've heard from our agents on the ground. And time is against us. We have no idea when or where Gemini will strike. So it is imperative that Team Possible infiltrates the base, find out anything valuable, sabotage their plans if possible, and get out..."

Shego let out a defeated sigh. "You couldn't give me something easier for my first mission with them, could you?"

"You'd always like to hit the ground running," Dr. Director nodded her head. "And the protocol for this mission? Maximum effect, but no lifeline."

"Right," Shego pursed her lips thinly as she looked at the two teens with a stoic look on her face.

"What does that mean?" Ron asked the older woman.

"It means…" Shego sighed again as she looked down at her hands and flexed her fingers slowly, then at the slightly nervous look on Ron's face. "We can go all out and blow everything up. But if something goes wrong, GJ won't be able to get us out of there." Shego stared at Dr. Director hard for a moment. "Betts, I don't feel comfortable with this, especially with a small army down there. I know what the assault hoverjets are capable of... You could have one standing on station waiting to evac us-..."

"I'll see if I have anyone..." Dr. Director looked at the roster of available pilots, and raised an eyebrow in consideration. "Lieutenant Commander Sites is available, and he could probably... Fine, Shego... If the base isn't too heavily guarded externally, I'll have him wait on station at this island here..." she pointed at a small island about half a mile from the main island, "If he doesn't hear from you within an hour, I'll have him return home... If you call him for an emergency evac, he'll go in, and if you're not all there, I'm sorry, bu-..."

"We understand, and we'll do it," Kim suddenly declared, confidence brimming from her voice. "One way or the other... It's no big…"

"Right," Dr. Director tersely nodded. "We have an assault hoverjet waiting for you in Bay Three, and I'll switch out the pilot for Lieutenant Commander Sites..."

"Later then, Dr. Director," Kim spoke as she turned and walked towards the door, followed closely by Ron. Shego gave the one-eyed woman a searching look before shrugging her shoulders and following the two teens. And just as she was about to disappear out the doorway, Shego heard the sound of someone clearing her throat.

"Excuse me?" Shego glanced back at the source of the noise.

"I said, just bring them both back alive again, okay?" Dr. Director spoke, sounding strangely unlike herself; with a tinge of uncertainty in her voice.

"That's exactly what I plan on doing."

"Good."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Okay, I got a hundred and six excuses to make.

I've been busy at work, it seems that working life doesn't seem to leave any room for writing. And what sucks even more is that my work entails even more writing of the boring and dry sort. Which seriously takes away a lot of time from writing fanfiction, because who can blame a guy for not wanted to de-stress by writing stories, just after coming back from ten straight hours of report writing? Anyway, yeah, I know I hate dream sequences, but I wanted to make fun of Shego, you know, shake her up a bit. I could so imagine the look on Shego's face when Ron bent over.

The other reason for the delay was my beta-reader/co-author, kgs-wy, also has a new job that has him working during hours that are the diametric opposite of the shift he's been working for close to a decade. He also suffered another loss within his family, and has only recovered enough from both to return full bore to the beta-work. That's why I need to chain him to the desk to work... Now let me break out the torture tools, I mean, management motivation techniques...

Things have sort of worked out between Shego and Dr. Director, and Shego's a little bit back to her snarky self, with a slight mean streak. So yeah, here it comes, you know, I'm going to speed things up a little here and move on to the action scenes. And yes, I guess it's kinda impossible _not_ to notice that Shego feels something for Ron; after all, the people around her are definitely picking it up.

I will try to update all my stories soon, but once the end of the year's over, I should be fine. Now, it's not like me to beg, but I really need words of encouragement. That's about how crapped up my schedule is right now.


	16. Chapter 16

Ron was more than a little aggrieved. Kim and Shego had told him in no uncertain terms that he was disallowed from moving until he had either finished his homework, or they'd reached their destination. The destination, as usual, was a villain's lair, this time Gemini's. The lair was in the Pacific ocean, somewhere in the Puget sound area west of Seattle.

He sighed in a vexed manner, remembering the feeling of elation when opening his mouth to announce triumphantly that he did not bring his homework. He also remembered the feeling of dread when that familiar faux sweet smile came to Kim's face, and she pulled the schoolbag that he thought he'd left in her car from under the assault hoverjet's seat.

Plunking it unceremoniously on his lap, Kim and Shego had sniggered as they walked towards the rear of the hovercraft, whispering in surreptitious tones. They had been like that for the prior two hours, and at another snicker from Shego, Ron found himself glancing down helplessly at his clothing-challenged buddy, sighing in his vexed manner once again, "Hoo boy, Rufus, nothing good can come out of this, can it?"

Ron couldn't think of the time he'd put in on his homework in a normal manner. Instead of two hours, it was twenty-six pages and two chewed up pencils later, and Ron was, at the very least, antsy. He'd never really noticed how long these mission flights actually took until he realized that Kim wasn't by his side, taking the edge of boredom on just about everything. If not for her, he didn't think he could stomach another day of school.

Sighing with annoyance, he decided to go pay Lieutenant Commander Webber Sites a visit in the cockpit. If the girls wanted their own secret meeting at the back of the hover jet, then the guys can at least have their own secret clubhouse in the cockpit. Knocking gingerly on the cockpit access doorway, he peeked in and nodded his head at the auburn, grizzly pilot.

"Hey there, Bud," Lieutentant Web Sites greeted him with gusto. "Com'on in, have a seat right on the co-pilot's chair."

"Wow, um... R-really?" Ron instantly gawked at the offer. Weber nodded with a smirk and Ron scurried into the seat before the senior GJ pilot could change his mind. He'd always liked Lieutenant Sites, ever since the first time they'd met a couple months earlier. Even Kim would never dream of letting him sit in a place with so many flashing buttons. He cooed with delight as he gazed at the wide array of fancy instruments before him, wondering if he could actually touch any of them.

Weber stifled a full bellied laugh he felt working itself up and settled on a chuckle at Ron's nervous enthusiasm. "Hey, y'wanna fly this baby for a bit? Just to warn ya, it's got some very recent enhancements, first non practice flight and all, but I trust one of Team Possible..."

Ron could not believe his ears. "Really?" he croaked in ill-contained surprise. "Can I? I mean... I'm not the best choi-..."

"Sure, go ahead…" Web gestured him on. "I'll guide you along, so we actually get there in one piece." Ron gulped as he reached forward to gently rest his sweaty palms on the HOTAS controls. He could barely hear Web's voice as he coached him softly to ease back and take the hover jet into a gentle climb. He'd barely heard Web announce into the PA system, "Hang on tight, we're running into some turbulence." Then the man gave Ron a sideways wink, and ordered, "Alright, now dive!"

The plane lurched forward into a steep dive, and Ron could feel his gut sucked up into his chest as the negative g-force pushed all the blood to his head. He could barely hear himself screaming at the top of his lungs and Web laughing as hard as he could. He hurriedly pulled back on the control stick, then let go when Weber grabbed his own HOTAS to throttle back and gently guide the assault hoverjet back to cruising attitude.

Ron had never looked more ashen in his life. "Woah…" he gulped in fear. "What a rush… I will never do that again…"

Web had barely gotten over his laughs, before a snappish Shego slammed through the doorway, with a really grouchy look on her face. "What the hell was that, Web?"

"Nothing," Web laughed at the look on her face. "Just letting Ron have a go at the hover jet… He has the fine makings of a pilot, once he gets the screaming out of the way…"

Shego glowered at him for a short moment, before shooting a deadly glare at Ron. With a huff, she spun on her heel and stomped back down to the hold.

"Oh boy, she's pissy…" Ron gulped as he glanced guiltily at Rufus, who had lost his healthy pink luster and was looking a little green.

"Nah, if you call that pissed, you've never seen Shego pissed," Web replied lightly. "If anything, she's in a very good mood."

"I said pissy, not pissed..." Ron defended with a slight smile, then glanced at Weber. "I have seen her pissed... But you seriously call that a very good mood?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Web went on. "Back in the day, she'd have happily introduced my face or the back of my head to her fist for pulling a stunt like that. Maybe even given you a good stinging plasma ball to the rear for dropping us like that..." he laughed quietly at some memory that had popped up, shaking his head slightly. "Man, she's really mellowed out. Hanging out with you kids must have done her some good."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, take my word for it, Bud. She's really chill these days."

"Uh huh… Wait, you used to work with her, right?" Ron asked.

"Yup, we were both rookie trainees, but she was the big shot… You know what I mean?"

"Nope." Ron quipped, cocking his head slightly to the right.

"Let's see now… In GJ, when everyone's a trainee, you're always excited to go out and get some action, you know, like the stuff they show on the news: loud explosions, secret surveillance, running from the bad guys and everything. But that's all what you see on the media. In fact, most of the time, we're doing the peon work, like fetching coffee or making copies, the usual BS that low-level guys in any largeagency or corporation go through…" Web explained. "But Shego… Shego was different… She came in as a trainee like all of us, but straight up from day one, she always joined the big guns…"

"The big guns?"

"You know, the heavy assault teams, the deep recons, the high class, glamorous missions so steeped with danger and adrenaline that only the best of the best of the best full fledged, first year _agents_, let alone _trainees_, would actually find their way onto those teams," Web continued as he gazed out into the horizon. "And there she was, as green as the rest of us, and already doing the 'fun' stuff…"

"Heh," Ron grinned sheepishly as he shared a look with Rufus. "I don't think it's all that cut out to be… Kim can tell you more about the close scrapes she's had over the years."

"Yeah, I know," Web replied wistfully. "But we were young then, and we all believed we were invincible… But as much as we'd envy Shego, she had an odd attitude towards it. She didn't enjoy it as much as we thought someone with her notoriety and fame would have. She hated the limelight, shied away from the cameras, and every time I'd ask her about her latest mission, she'd seem very nonchalant about it! Well, except for the surveillance ops... She actually enjoyed them, since her and her brother Hego were Team Go's heavy hitters. Surveillance was always left to Mego and the twins, according to her..."

"Really? She seemed to enjoy gloating about her successes as a villain," Ron thought back on the times when he and Kim had run into her during one of her crime sprees, and even the first couple weeks she had spent at his house.

"I don't know much about that," Web shrugged. "But to me, she was always this quiet girl who felt that she was given a gift that she didn't want. Like she was forced to grow up too soon, you know? She was always the first one in, did her job very well, took out the bad guys quickly, and was always the last one out with Mac or Betts... And next thing you know, she was back in the shadows waiting for her next assignment. She didn't enjoy the heavy duty missions, far as I could tell. To her it was just a job, and the quicker she was done with it, the better. And boy was she really uptight back then."

"Uptight? Like how?"

"I'd ask her how her day went, and she'd just stare at me as though I'd ask the stupidest question in the world," Web shrugged, as he smiled at the memory. "That was it at first, but after a while, she lightened up a little when she started dating some art major at the university... But she would still lose her temper at the slightest thing, and took her a while to simmer down. In fact, she would hit me really hard every time I pulled a prank on her. Like this one time I had super-glued her locker door shut." Ron stared at Weber like he was a suicidal man on the edge of a bridge, earning a bark of laughter from the older man. "Heh, man, I caught _hell_ for that one. She came out of the showers, and literally blew down the men's locker room in nothing but a towel, looking for me…"

"Sounds like you two were pretty tight."

"Yeah, we were… She'd talk to me a little, and the other guys looked to me to bear the brunt of her wrath whenever she was in one of her moods," Web replied with a grin. "She'd maim me, but at least she'd let me live."

"So… Did you two ever date or anything?"

Web swiveled his head and gave him a long and hard look before bursting out in laughter. "Nah… No man… Never been… She's just a friend that's all… Me? Date Shego? That would be so weird…"

"What? Why?"

"No, no, don't get me wrong," Web laughed as he wiped his eyes. "She's hot and all that, but we were strictly friends. I was seeing someone down in Accounting back then, and she was dating that university chick..." He chuckled at the memories Ron's innocent question had brought up. "Hell, even now, the thought of dating Shego kinda gives me the willies..."

"Um, how so?" Ron asked, his face showing his complete confusion.

"Heh, well... It'd be like me dating my sister." Ron raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak, but Weber's chuckle stopped him, "Yes, part of that was because she was dating my si-… Older sibling…" Web said in a sudden, evasive manner. He gave Ron an apologetic smile and hit the auto-pilot before glancing searchingly back towards the hold, his face a mask of concern.

"What is it?" Ron asked in surprise. He followed Web's gaze just in time to see Shego throw her head back and roared with laughter at something Kim said. The older woman leaned forward and brushed a tear out of her eye before giving Kim a playful smack on her arm.

"She's quite the babe, isn't she?" Web asked softly, as they watched the two talk animatedly in the back of the hovercraft, a smile always lingering on their faces. "Especially when she smiles a lot."

"Uh huh…" Ron nodded his head in affirmation, before suddenly blushing furiously. "Dude, she's my gym teacher!"

With a loud roar, Web slapped Ron on the back heartily, "I _wished_ I had a gym teacher like that."

Looking up to see what all the noise was about, Shego saw Web and Ron laughing with each other and occasionally stealing glances her way. Realizing that they were talking about her, a quick scowl returned to her face, before she raised her hand and flipped Web off with her middle finger.

"Back atcha!" Web grinned in amusement as he laughed off her rude gesture, before settling back in the pilot seat and keeping his eyes forward. Web stared off into the horizon as though in deep thought.

Ron gave one last look at Shego, who'd returned to her conversation with Kim and that carefree smile had returned to her face. Her face looked a lot younger and her features a lot more relaxed as she talked freely with Kim, like they had been friends their entire lives. Ron found himself studying her more closely, and to be honest, he started to wonder a little why he hadn't noticed the finer aspects of her beauty. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Web's deep voice.

"Okay, I guess I should let you know," Web's voice dropped lower as he gave one final glance back, just to be sure that no one else was listening. "After all, I think she'd have wanted you to know anyway, seeing how much you mean to her…" Web sat back in his seat and kept his eyes firmly fixed on the horizon. "I kinda realized that if you didn't know a lot about Shego's time in GJ, ya might not know too much about other aspects of her past, y'know? Beyond Chesterfield and all that, of course..."

Ron nodded, a confused, but understanding smile on his face. "It's all good, Web. I don't mean to pry, but I'll always be there for her if she's ready to talk about her past… I mean, she's one of my best friends, and KP's too, and I care for her. I never really wanted to ask too much or the wrong thing of her..."

"And that's good, it's kinda how I was with her at first..." Weber said, opening his mouth to continue his train of thought. He snapped his mouth shut, however, when he realized that Ron was giving him an out to continue stalling. He seriously thought about it for a second, before giving himself a little shake, smirking in a very Shego-like manner. "You're good at that... The distraction thing..."

"What?" Ron asked, a slight blush on his cheeks at having been caught doing just that.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Bud!" Weber said genially, "It's something that's a bit difficult to talk about for her, and what I'm about to tell you, for me... And I appreciate you offering the out, but the look on her face?" he nodded back towards the hold, sighing heavily. "I think she's been trying to do just this, but hasn't been able to work up the nerve..." Ron nodded, his face serious and his gaze intent. Weber sighed again and spoke, his voice calm and measured. "Anyway, yeah, Shego was dating my older sibling, Sammie..."

At Weber's pause, Ron carefully stepped in, his voice neutral, "Sammy, as in older brother, or Sammie as in..." he let the comment trail off, earning a startled chuckle from Weber.

"The latter, Bud, the latter..." Weber glanced back to the hold once again, seeing Shego and Kim deep in conversation, their occasional giggles drifting up front, and smirked in a considering manner. "Samantha Sites... Former Kansas state champ at floor and uneven bar in gymnastics, massively into various extra-curricular school activities, college math tutor... And who was Shego's companion for almost two years..."

"As in, they'd have gotten married if it was legal?" Ron asked, unsure if he was right or not. "Like, together forever?" Ron's face bore the sickening realization that something had happened, something very, very bad, at the sad look on Weber's face.

"Yeah, if..." Web sighed, a rueful expression on his face. "If she hadn't died..." Pulling his wallet from his pants pocket, he handed it wordlessly over to Ron.

"So," Ron said softly as he stared at the wallet size picture of Samantha Sites, "This was your sis, huh?" He seemed at a loss for what to say, yet deep in thought at once.

"Yup," Weber said with a happy, yet melancholy smile, taking the picture back as Ron handed it to him. Over the course of the next dozen minutes, he related what he had experienced as Sam's older brother, and the relationship Shego had shared with her. He related the ups and downs of their relationship, and how they had seemed like they had been meant for each other from day one. He also related the horrid loss of both his sister and his mentor, Simon McNally, as well as the disappearance of the woman he'd come to view as his sister in law, and how Shego had watched it all happen from a distance.

"She... She blamed herself, didn't she?" Ron asked after a few minutes of silence from Weber. "Even if there was nothing she could do..."

"Indeed..." Weber muttered softly, shaking his head in frustration that seemed as fresh as if it had all happened yesterday. "Dad was pissed she did, so was Betts, me... Everyone that worked directly with her, even the people jealous of her quick rise in the ranks tried to keep her on an even keel."

"But?" Ron asked into a renewed silence, loath to break into it, but wanting desperately to know."

"But... It hit Shego pretty hard, especially with the way she died... She just... Shego couldn't handle it, the loss... Blamed herself, like ya said. She just... Left. I'm glad you and Kim managed to get her back, though..."

"Yeah, so am I," Ron said with a distant grin, before sobering with a concerned, almost worried expression. "Hey, Web, you knew Shego pretty good, right?" Weber nodded with a raised eyebrow. "D'you think... Well..."

"Yes?" Web asked into the brief silence from the younger man.

"You don't think that I... I dunno, caused her any problems, having her stay at my place with Kim coming over all the time and stuff?" Weber, despite the slight melancholy he had, chuckled slightly at Ron's question as the blonde looked back, frustrated with his inability to form his question to his satisfaction. "I mean, she hated Kim for so long, and now, I think I know why... And, I mean, I'm not saying Shego's trying to, y'know... It's... I'm just... With Kim and how she..."

"I know what you mean; it's obvious she's got her eyes pretty much somewhere else..." Web said with a knowing smile, a twinkle in his eyes. "Let me say this... Shego's calmed down a lot, even more than she did after over a year with Sam... I think her hatred for Kim was a knee jerk reaction that just kept snowballing, y'know?" Ron nodded slightly in understanding, pursing his lips slightly. "She obviously cares for you two, or she wouldn't be out with you guys right now. I think she looks at Kim like a friend she only rarely had, really... And you?"

Ron snapped his head around to Weber, his eyes narrowed slightly at the teasing tone in the pilot's voice. "What about me?" he said in concern, as Rufus nodded in agreement, his head cocked in a challenging manner at Weber.

"Well, it's obvious, dude!" Weber said with a chuckle, "She's got it bad for ya..."

Ron stared at Weber for several long seconds as the older man shook with stifled laughter, before finally speaking in a slow, deliberate manner. "Weber, what exactly are you saying here?"

"Don't worry, dude, she's not a gal that'll barge in on a relationship as good as yours and Kim's... Especially as close as you two are to her." Weber said with a laugh, "But honestly? I know the look she gives you... She gave it to Sam a lot before my sis seduced her..." Ron choked at the blasé observation from Weber, sputtering in an attempt to respond. "Chill dude... Trust me, you have at least a friend for life in her..."

Ron stopped sputtering at Weber's calming words, taking a few deep breaths. "Yeah," he said softly, smiling slightly. "I just hope that Kim and I aren't hurting her, or making her feel uncomfortable..."

"I think she's mostly over that, as good as she's getting along with Kim..." Weber said knowingly, his voice turning serious as he continued. "I do want you to promise me something, though... Don't you _ever_ hurt her, 'kay?"

Ron stared at him with a confused expression, nodding despite himself. "I wasn't trying or planning it... But why do ya say that?"

"'Cause, Bud... She was as close to my sister-in-law as a woman dating my sister could get, y'know?" Ron nodded, his eyes shining in sudden comprehension. "Never lie to her about anything, and never use her, or I'll come by and kick your ass!"

"I wouldn't!" Ron protested in shock, his eyes wide as he held his hands out as if warding off an attack. "That'd just be wrong, I mean... I'm with KP and all and, well, y'know... I mean... I know she has feelin-"

Weber let out a long, raucous belly laugh at Ron's antics, "Don't worry, Bud, I never thought you would!" he wiped slightly at tears that were forming in his eyes, shaking his head slightly. "Oh, man, I think the only thing you'd have to worry about is Shego trying to-..."

"Oh Ronnie!" the faux sweet, cloyingly cute voice resounded from just outside the cockpit, cutting Weber off in mid-word and making Ron's face pale immediately.

"Uh oh!" Rufus squeaked before diving back deep into Ron's pocket. Even the little guy knew something was up. It was Kim's voice, the one where she wanted something from Ron and would stop at nothing to get it. It was the call of a thousand shopping sprees, a million bargain sales and a gigantillion number of shopping bags that Ron had to endure, all part of the best friend and boyfriend job description.

Ron instantly slunk back down into his chair and pretended not to hear a word. "No good can come out of this," he murmured to himself as he squeezed his eyes tightly shut, much to Web's amusement.

"Ronnie!" the voice continued in a sing-song, bouncy fashion, "Come here!"

"I'm asleep…" Ron called back before realizing his mistake and clamping his hand over his mouth. "Aww… Nuts!"

A snigger was heard, before sudden, suspicious whispering. Ron could feel his impending doom and covered his face with his hands and slid even lower into his seat.

Web leaned over and tapped his shoulder, "Hey, Bud, think you better go. I know the sound of that voice, and you know they won't let up until they get what they want." Ron nodded reluctantly, standing much like a condemned man would. "Good luck, you're a brave man."

With a grudging sigh, Ron dragged himself out of the co-pilot seat. Whatever it was that Kim wanted, it was not going to be good. She'd paralyze him with her Puppy Dog Pout and then make him do her bidding. He could still feel the back ache from her last shopping spree with Shego. And it didn't help that he was suckered into volunteering to carry their shopping. As he covered his eyes with his hands, he couldn't help but feel that he was a dead man walking.

"Ron," Kim's voice called out, sounding a lot closer and a deep pout in her voice already. He flinched as a hand touched his shoulder. "Ron… Look at me…"

"Do I have to?" Ron mewled from behind his fingers, half-afraid of what Kim was trying to do.

"We just want your opinion on this for a moment…" Kim cajoled the recalcitrant blond.

"Oh, that's... Aww, nuts…" Ron groaned as he knew that he couldn't get away. He'd tried, but he had always known when he was beaten. He sighed as he uncovered his face and turned to look at his girlfriend, "Okay, fine Kim… What's…"

Ron's jaw felt like it hit the cabin floor and clattered around a few times before coming to rest at his feet. A little tell-tale drool trickled down the side of his mouth and his pupils immediately contracted as all signs of coherent thought fled him.

"Hmm…" Kim mused with mirth as she glanced over at her partner-in-crime. "Sheila, I think we just blew his brain."

"My god…" Shego could barely hide her amazement. "Did we…"

"Uh huh…" Kim smiled proudly at the older woman.

"Does this happen all the time?"

"No, I think it's just the double dose… He usually just breaks down and gives in to anything I ask for… I think this time we just overloaded him."

"So does this work on everyone?"

"Uh huh… Even Monique…"

"First dibs on Club Banana's Spring Catalogue?"

"You know it."

"Ah… Do you think we should do something about him? I think he's really catatonic…"

"Oh don't worry about it," Kim winked at Shego. "I know how to get him out of it…" She quickly leaned in to Ron's left ear and purred as seductively as she could, "Oh Ronnie, could you help me zip up this dress? It seems a little tight around the chest… Please?" And just for the cherry on top, she flicked out her tongue and gently touched his ear lobe.

"Ah! Kim!" Ron suddenly became animated again as he recoiled away in horror. Realizing that there was a damp patch on his collar, he reached up to his lips and wiped off that embarrassing trickle of drool. "Oh god…" he moaned in shame. "What… Was that? What the hell did you two do to me?"

"It's the Dual Puppy Dog Pout, upgraded," Kim grinned deviously. "Twice the power, twice the effect."

"I… I…" Ron stammered as he glanced up helplessly at the two women sharing a laugh at his expense as the sound of Weber's amusement trickled in from the cockpit. "No… My brain… It's all numb now… I can't…"

"You just promised to take both of us shopping this weekend," Kim laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"At your expense," Shego added.

"Oh god… There goes my college fund," Ron moaned.

"Don't worry," Kim laughed as she gave him a big kiss on the cheek, putting both of her arms around his neck. "Sheila will write you a glowing recommendation so that you'll get a scholarship to wherever we are going."

"Please… Just… Don't ever…" Ron raised his hand and rubbed his temples as he groaned in pain. "Don't… Ever do that… Again…"

Kim let out another light laugh as Shego reached out and chucked him lightly on the shoulder with her fist. "Don't worry; we'll only use it for good…"

"And shopping," Shego added.

"Right, so how's the homework coming along?" Kim asked as she glanced over at the mess of books around the hovercraft. "That bad, huh?"

"I… I… Can't… Think… Anymore…" Ron stuttered.

"Don't worry, after all of that, let us help you, right Sheila?"

"Yeah, just quit groping him and let's get to work," Shego grinned devilishly as Kim started to blush. "We've got about an hour left before mission time."

"Right," Kim replied as she sat down on the seat and patted the place next to her. Grudgingly, Ron quietly obeyed, the puppy dog pout still affecting him greatly. At least, to his benefit, his girlfriend pressed herself up against his left arm, snuggling close to him and placed her head on his shoulder.

Shego tried not to look at the amorous couple, or rather the amorous red-head wrapped around Ron as she sat down on his other side Ron and gingerly drew a book out from the pile. "Right, let's start here, shall we?" Shego asked, as she opened the book in front of Ron. "Now, let me explain…"

Ron sighed as Kim and Shego slowly, surely and incessantly drilled into him Arthur C. Clarke's 'Childhood's End' for lit, trigonometry for math, a class he still couldn't understand how he managed to pass into, and the finer points of the American Civil War. As he glanced to his left and to his right at the two most beautiful and deadliest women he'd ever known pressing their soft, luscious curves against him, he let out a little sigh of worry. Maybe jumping into a villain's lair full of henchmen armed to the teeth with energy weapons didn't sound that dangerous after all.

* * *

Gemini swelled up wit h self-importance as he stood in his Heavy Assault Exo-Suit Mark III with twice the armor, and three times the firepower of the previous model. While he didn't get the anti-air defense upgrade, this thing would pack more punch than a column of tanks marching right up GJ's corridors and banging down on his sister's door. Then he'd show her who the better sibling is… Mommy would be so proud…

"Ahem," Henchman Epsilon cleared his throat next to him.

"What is it?" Gemini snapped out from his reverie and into his trembling hired help.

"The guys are expecting you to say something, something about this plan of yours that you've kept under wraps until now," the man in the tight jumpsuit with a Greek symbol of tau scrawled in a circle on the chest.

"Fine, I suppose you're right," Gemini assented grouchily. Drawing up to his full height, he looked at the faces of the hundreds of henchmen he had assembled for today. He'd long run out of Greek letters for all of them and have long resorted to other Cuneiform alphabet. But at least it got the job done.

"Right, men. As you all know, we're about to launch the biggest assault ever on Global Justice!" Gemini paused for a moment, waiting for an eruption of cheers. But when it was not forthcoming, he ground his teeth and continued regardless. "Men! As I have said, we are about to launch the biggest assault on Global Justice _ever_!"

A handful of sheepish henchmen applauded from the back of the room.

"_Anyway_," Gemini spoke tersely. "This is going to be a capture mission! We don't have as much manpower as Global Justice, but I'll tell you what we have. We have the element of surprise! I have three all-access keycards to Global Justice! At precisely midnight, Team C, with the first keycard, led by Henchman Beta will attack GJ's central power grid and override all emergency power to the facility."

"Team B, led by Henchman Alpha, would then assault from the hangar bay and destroy all of GJ's vehicles and immediate modes of transportation. Then both teams will immediately begin sweeping the base, Team B from the top and Team C from the bottom for all stragglers and take them out!"

A thin scrawny henchman with the Urgatic letter Ha on his chest, slowly raised his hand while glancing around his compatriots nervously, "So Boss, what is Team A going to do?"

"Weren't you paying attention?" Gemini roared, as he thumbed a button on his remote control. A small hatch in the ceiling opened and the terrified henchman let out a long yelp of terror as his seat jettisoned the poor man seemingly into orbit. "I was getting to that!"

The rest of the henchmen huddled in fear as they looked around at each other nervously. None of them dared to interrupt the boss when he was in this mood.

"Team A, will personally be led by me!" Gemini announced proudly. "We are going to go straight for GJ's Central Control, where no doubt Dr. Elizabeth Director will be there trying to defend her base from all corners! Once we've captured Central _and_ Dr. Elizabeth Director, we're going to upload a powerful computer virus that would not only wipe out their mainframe, but every single Global Justice computer in the world! This will be the end of Global Justice forever!"

And as if on cue, the henchmen started applauding loudly, as a few did some catcalls. Gemini smirked at the enthusiasm his men showed. Maybe he wouldn't need to make another example out of one of them. He glanced down at the buttons of his remote. Maybe just one more… Just to be sure…

"My, that's quite the stirring speech," a silky voice purred from behind him, as a platinum-haired woman slid out from the shadows silently and stood behind his shoulder. Even though Gemini was in his Exo-Suit, he could not help but feel a strange sense of vulnerability around this woman.

"What do you want, Miss AN Thropy?" Gemini growled as he turned away from his men to face her.

"To be honest, I had my doubts about you…" Miss AN Thropy smiled sweetly as she surveyed the jubilant men. "But you have a halfway decent plan there."

"I'm still going to watch my back around you," Gemini spoke in a low voice. "I have not been able to find out who you work for and I still don't see why you are willing to help me attack Global Justice."

"Au contraire, Gemini," Miss AN Thropy raised an unperturbed eyebrow at the apparent hostility emanating from the man with a short stature. "It is you who is helping me."

"So…" Gemini hissed. "What are you going to do while the attack is going on? I presume that you're here to carry out your own mission in the chaos."

"My, you're not so stupid after all," Miss AN Thropy bared her teeth like a barracuda. "I just respectfully request that you keep your men out of my way if you don't want to see too many casualties."

"What is the aim of your mission?"

"Don't worry, whatever it is, it won't jeopardize your mission."

"You know what, Miss AN Thropy? My organization could benefit with someone like you."

"As much as I would appreciate such an offer, I'd have to kill you just for making it...," Miss AN Thropy hardly batted an eyelash. "After all, you can't possibly give me the thrill and satisfaction that I want."

"Oh really?" Gemini puffed up with importance. "Don't underestimate me…"

"I don't underestimate people. Besides, we're here already."

"What?" Gemini looked at the console behind him and realized that his mobile lair had just reached its destination on time, exactly as planned. In fifteen minutes they would launch the attack, and in forty-five minutes, Global Justice would be left in a pile of smoking dust, and his sister along with it. Whirling around to continue his interrogation of the platinum-haired woman, he found himself staring at nothing but shadows.

"I should have tagged that woman when I had the chance," he murmured quietly to himself as he hit the button that opened the loading bays to his mobile lair and proceeded to lead his army to victory.

* * *

If the slow response speed of the RFID tracking ID in his badge was any indication, the IT jocks were at it again. And less than an hour after Will Du had put the, in his not so humble opinion, overpaid network technicians back in their place. They had rigged up part of GJ's mainframe and used it for some virtual paintballing game that outlaid the actual Global Justice headquarters as the battlefield. While that might have some useful training purposes as purported by one of them, the short and fat one with glasses, this was still not an acceptable use of Global Justice equipment without proper authorization from the higher-ups. Namely him or Betty Director.

But at least this wasn't as bad as what those maniacs in the Research Department could do. One of them had the awe-inspiring idea of solving world hunger by inventing replicating Jell-O that could basically just 'grow' by itself so that it could feed the world. And grow it did, until it flooded the hallways. Much to Will Du's embarrassment, the only way out of that predicament was to actually _eat_ their way out. The cafeteria never served Jell-O again after that.

Tucking his folder of neatly organized and color coded daily reports under his arm, he proceeded to the filing room to safely store away the records for the day. He needed to cross-reference all of them, but it would have to wait. Will Du was already running behind schedule for his eleven P.M. to nine A.M. graveyard shift at Central Control.

Suddenly the lights in the corridor flickered once, twice, then went out with the loud of industrial relays. Pausing in the darkness for a moment, Will Du swore under his breath, "Those Research guys _must_ be at it again!" He waited for a brief moment before the emergency red floodlights filled the corridor.

Pressing a button on his watch communicator, he barked into it urgently, "Engineering! What's going on with the power? Engineering?"

All he could hear was static. This was ridiculous. Just because it was the dead shift didn't mean that everyone could just slack off and sleep. This was a para-military organization for god's sake! "Engineering?" he called once more.

Suddenly, static erupted from his wrist-communicator. "… help… by… Gemini… Request…"

"I am not getting your message, could you repeat?" Will Du's heart leapt as he realized that something was wrong.

"Under attack… Repeat… -der atta-…" The communication was cut off by a scream and the sudden, unmistakable staccato of automatic weapons fire.

Will Du instantly sprung into action. He dropped the files on the floor and instantly raced towards Central Control. "The alarms should have gone off…" he mumbled angrily to himself as he twisted and turned down the labyrinthine corridors of Global Justice's World Headquarters. "What the _Hell_ is going on?"

He pressed his wrist-communicator again and called Dr. Director. The communicator buzzed on futilely, unable to raise Dr. Director on the line. Cursing under his breath, he quickly switched to broad communications mode, making a terse declaration ring out over the headquarters' PA system.

"This is Second Du, we are under attack, repeat, we are under attack! Director Director is unreachable, I am taking command. The situation is hard, repeat, the situation is hard, this is _not_ a drill. Enact emergency procedures one, two and five! I repeat, emergency procedures one, two and five! The base is going into a total lockdown!"

Rounding the corner towards Central Control, he was suddenly rocked by a violent explosion as the walls in front of him ruptured and gave way. The shockwave of the blast flung the agent a several feet backwards, before a wave of dust, heat and rubble washed over him. Groaning in pain, he struggled to get to his feet, immediately perceiving several men armed with G-36 assault rifles spilling into the breach, followed by a huge suit of powered armor. The powered armor was followed by dozens more henchmen clutching large plasma staffs, their deep, midnight blue hue indicating they were not set to shock.

As quickly as his aching body could move, he crawled to the nearest door and shoved it open, hoping noone had noticed. He found himself in a service accesway, and he slumped in brief relief against the thick, armored firedoor while trying to ignore the ringing in his eardrums. He knew, as he sought to recall the supplemental training Dr. Director had given him upon promotion to Second, that the accesway he was in had not been put into any of the official plans of the building, just in case of a situation like they were in.

Some situations were not covered in the operations manual for a reasons, so he knew most of the agents would be running blind, as 'The Book' said nothing about the event of a catastrophic system failure and the head of Global Justice was in incommunicado while the headquarters was under attack. It didn't help that he was cut off from Central Control and that there was no way he could be sure whether anyone had gotten his message for a total base lockdown.

"Fuck it!" he cursed out loud, even though a Global Justice agent was supposed to act professionally at all time. What was it that Dr. Director had said? Extraordinary times sometimes call for extraordinary measures? It was time, he figured, to slip back into the man he was in college, and hope that things worked out for the best.

He glanced helplessly around the room for a moment, trying to think of the best course of action. "Damn it…" he murmured to himself as he realized the two best chances that Global Justice has at the moment. He knew, without sparing a second thought, that he _would_ be found out arguing and exchanging challenges and counter challenges up the chain of command...

"No time..." he muttered, shaking his head in sudden, intense disgust with the very system he had followed so rigidly for the last few years. "If I get some backup and can get to the secure comm. system, maybe, but for now..." he continued as he reluctantly switched his wrist-communicator to long-range burst and a very specific frequency, praying that his message got through.

Hearing a loud smashing at the firedoor he had gone through, he darted down the hallway he was in, trying to circumvent the invaders as best as he could. As his watch communicator beeped in confirmation that there was no jamming on the frequency he was keyed to, he drew a deep breath, calling out three words with as much dignity as he could muster.

"Calling Team Possible…"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I was in the middle of cooking lunch when kgs-wy finally got back with the improvements. Safe to say, I'm covered with oil, but it's a happy Sunday afternoon and I get to post a new chapter. Hang on, let me get the fish off the stove.

Anyway, Ron finally gets to see a little more behind Shego, and I think he might have a little less than honorable thoughts about his gym teacher. But then again the Dual PDP is one of those reasons why a guy should have one and only one girlfriend. But then again, we all like to tempt fate.

I think I like the way Will Du's handling the situation. Maybe it makes him more human, after all the time that I've been casting him as an uptight ass. There's a reason why he's there as second-in-command in the first place, and I don't think he's always as incompetent as we'd like to think.

The action's starting, and things should be moving pretty fast from here. On the home front, I am getting really busy in the next week, leading up to Christmas. Need to settle all works by then. However, once January comes around, hopefully I can start on a new project.


	17. Chapter 17

Pressing themselves against the wall of the abandoned utility tunnel hollowed out from solid rock, the four members of Team Possible, led by Kim, inched down as silently as they could. They'd not yet tripped any alarms or alerted Gemini of their presence, and soon enough they would reach the end of the tunnel and carry out their surveillance mission.

A low growl emanated from the back of Shego's throat. "Dammit," she hissed in a low voice. "I guess you were right about Gemini, Princess... So I say let's just go in there and blow things up. After all, that's how you two used to do it to Drakken and me."

"That's because we knew beforehand what we were getting into," Kim whispered back. "Drakken's too cheap to hire Gemini's quality of henchmen. So we knew there'd only be you and Drakken we had to worry about. And since I can handle you..."

"Nuh uh, Princess..." Shego tut-tutted the red-head. "If you are going to say what I think you are going to say, we're going to have a rematch right here, right now..."

"Fine..." Kim mumbled as she raised an eyebrow at the older woman. "But don't forget, I still can do anything..."

"Yeah, right, girl..."

"Ladies, ladies..." Ron hissed from behind those two. "Could we can the competitiveness for a moment here and focus on the mission? You two could always see who the better fighter is later..."

"Right..." Shego muttered, almost forgetting that she was on a mission. Trust Kim to bring out the competitive streak in everyone. "Anyway, betcha I can tag more henchmen than you could."

"Oh, you're _on_," Kim replied evenly without bating an eye. With renewed spirit burning in their eyes, the two very deadly women stalked through the tunnel, hell-bent on proving the other wrong. "You sure you can beat me?" Kim continued in a teasing tone, "That old mission suit of yours? It makes you look fatter… Especially around the waist."

"Lay off, Miss Flat-Chest," Shego short back, as she twisted the fabric around her waist with her fingers and stretched it out a little, before smoothing it back against her body. "These suits were designed by the nerds your dad works with for the next-generation space suits, just without the vacuum proof hard exterior…"

"Uh, huh…" Kim said with a barely suppressed giggle.

"No 'uh huh' to it, Princess… My suit's modeled after the suits 'deep black' Spec. Ops. Teams use… Way better the basic police, SWAT, or even military personal armor, and flexible enough that it's like moving around in the buff," Shego grinned evilly as she noticed Ron twitch his head away awkwardly as his face burnt crimson. She leaned forward next to Kim's hear and in a hush whisper, as she cupped her breasts, "And most importantly, it makes these puppies look good."

"So it's just for protection in case you get shot?" Kim raised an eyebrow skeptically as she eyed the woman's figure.

"Hey, Princess, I'll have you know it's a dangerous world out there," Shego retorted. "And if you think that your cheerleading skills are enough to go up against a platoon of mercenaries touting fully-automatic heavy assault rifles… Please… I don't think they'll even find a scrap of you to bury…"

"I have my battlesuit…"

"Which you don't use, because apparently it rides up in funny places," Shego quipped with the widest grin on her face. "Kimmie, dear, sometimes protection is way more important than comfort. Of course, then again, seeing you in a skin-tight suit?" The two women cast a long knowing look at Ron who shuffled uncomfortably in his shoes. "Yup, it'll be a wonder if you get any missions done."

The bantering was quickly cut short by a series of coughs and throat-clearing sounds. Ron spoke as he looked up to the ceiling. "Look, ah… Ladies… Ladies… I think… I think you two should just make out… No… No! I mean, make _up_ and let's just finish the mission so that we can continue this discussion another time."

The two women looked quizzically at Ron before shrugging their shoulders. "Princess, he's got a point," Shego acceded. "Actions speak louder than words."

"Glad we agree on that," Kim replied as she continued walking down the utility tunnel towards their destination.

Within moments, they came upon a large, solid looking steel bay door. Whistling lowly, Shego gingerly rapped her knuckles on the dull metallic surface. "I'd say a good four inches of steel," Shego mused. Turning to Kim, she gave a wink and said, "Betcha you can't rip this door apart with your bare hands."

"Don't have to," Kim replied light-heartedly as she whipped out her Kimmunicator. Pressing a few buttons on it, she quickly ran a scan of it before locating a slide-away panel. Humming to herself as she mused over the buttons, she glanced back at her Kimmunicator screen before thumbing in a code. As the heavy steel doors groaned and slid back into the recesses of the cave wall, Kim glanced back at Shego with a triumphant smirk on her face. "Wasn't that so much easier?"

"Pfft," Shego snorted good-humoredly, scarcely hiding the fact that she was impressed. "Amateur."

"Old-school," Kim ribbed back.

"Hey, ladies..." Ron called as he shook his head at their antics. "Focus here! We got a villain to take out."

"Sorry, Ron," Kim replied apologetically. "I guess I got a little carried away. It's just... You know... Pretty cool that Sheila's actually doing missions with us now."

"Hell, yeah, I could definitely stretch my arms and legs a bit," Shego demonstrated as she reached stretched her arms forward, intertwined her fingers and made cracking sounds with her knuckles. "Teaching can be damn stressful at times, you know."

"Sure, sure, but I still can't believe _I'm_ telling you two to stay focus..." Ron groaned. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Oh don't worry about us," Shego grinned as she poked her head out into the corridor and glanced around. "Hmm... This is strange... There seems to be no one around here. I thought Betts said the place would be crawling with henchmen."

"Yeah, it's awfully quiet," Kim mused as she crept into the hallway. "I guess we better go look where the action is."

"That's what I'd like to hear," Shego nodded her head towards the left. "C'mon, guys, this way."

"Hey, I'm still in charge of this mission!" Kim protested.

"And I got more experience," Shego shot back.

"Then you'd know how to follow the chain of command."

"I'm not going to sit around and wait for you to decide, Princess."

"Ladies, ladies, for the last time, stop fighting!" Ron whispered harshly, raising his hands helplessly. "Look, if it'll help, let Rufus decide!"

"Fine," Kim sighed as she knelt down next to the little mole rat. Cooing in a gentle voice, she asked, "So which way is it, Rufus?"

Rufus scampered forward into the hallway before glancing left and right. He sat back on his haunches and sniffed the air. And suddenly a familiar and quite freshly baked smell hit him, and his senses tingled with excitement. Pointing down the left side of the corridor, Rufus happily declared, "Cheese!"

The three human members of Team Possible looked at the fabric-challenged pink fellow with surprise. Shego was the first to recover, "What do you mean cheese?"

"Hang on a minute," Ron stopped the older woman as he sniffed the air cautiously. "Yeah, Rufus is right. I smell it too... This way!"

"Wait a minute!" Shego half-stomped her foot on the ground with disgust. "Why are we following the scent of cheese anyway?"

"I don't know," Kim laughed as she followed her blond boyfriend down the corridor. "But where there's cheese, there's definitely people. And if there's people, maybe we can find out what's going on."

"I guess that kinda makes sense..." Shego grudgingly agreed. "But only in a Ron Stoppable kind of way."

"It's one of his many charms," Kim smiled as her gaze swept wistfully up the back of her boyfriend's body, finally resting on the bobbing head of blond hair.

"Right," Shego mumbled as she hastened along after them, with Rufus in lead. As they quietly slunk down the corridors, Shego began to feel a growing dread. There was definitely something wrong with this mission. She knew it, when that feeling at the bottom of her gut was annoying her, as though it had sunk to the bottom of her feet.

"Guys," she finally decided to voice her suspicion. "We really haven't run into a single soul at all. Are you sure Betts gave us the right coordinates?"

"I don't know," Kim shook her head thoughtfully. "This is a lair after all. Maybe if we could reach the control center, we might be able to find out..."

"Woah, hold up, we're almost there," Ron suddenly called back as Rufus halted in front of a pair of stainless steel double doors. "This must be the cafeteria, and there looks like there're two guys in there." Ron nodded at the two animated shadows that seem to be engaged in some sort of conversation.

"Shh..." Shego hushed him as her features turned serious. Glancing over at Kim, she slowly mouthed a countdown. At Kim's nod, she began. Three, two, one...

In unison, Kim and Shego charged at the door, busting into the brightly lit but mostly empty cafeteria. There were only two henchmen, sitting at one end of the cafeteria, with an open box of pizza between the two of them. They glanced up in surprise at the loud commotion, only in time to see a blazing fast red-head fly through the air and execute a perfect flying kick that instantly slammed the first henchman into the cafeteria table behind him, knocking him unconscious.

The second henchman only had a brief moment to react, before he reached for his plasma staff leaning against the chair next to him... Only to have it melted into a pool of charred goo by a flash of green plasma. He could only stand frozen in spot as a pair of killer legs strode in front of him and the gorgeous angel-of-death in green and black gave him a no-nonsense look.

"You!" Shego barked using her gym teacher voice. "Where the hell is everyone?"

The remaining conscious henchman blinked twice as his mind tried to register that his eminent death might be at hand.

"Talk, dammit!" Shego raged, as she lit up her hands purposefully. "Where the Hell is Gemini?"

"I..." the henchman gulped as his brain tried to reroute a new neural pathway to the speech section. "I... Ga... Ur..."

"Dammit," Shego grumbled as she glanced over at Kim who was making sure that the first henchman was out cold. "I think you should have taken out this idiot instead."

Kim stood up and walked over to the henchman and asked, "Tell us where Gemini is."

"He's... Ah... Not here..." the henchman started to wheeze, before searching around his pockets frantically. He started inhaling shallow breaths in a whooping sound before he finally found his inhaler in his back pocket, and puffed two doses into the back of his throat.

"Did... Did he just..." Shego asked, bewildered. "But... Union regs say that asthmatics aren't supposed to be hench-..."

"C'mon, Sheila, don't scare the guy..." Kim interrupted Shego's shocked rant with an unbidden smirk while Ron pulled her away from the terrified henchman. "Please tell us where Gemini is," Kim asked again in a much more gentle tone.

Glancing nervously at Shego, the henchman calculated his odds. If he didn't cooperate the scary lady with the flaming hands would definitely not be happy. But the red-head in front of him just took out his friend with a kung fu move he had only seen in the movies. Flaming lady, kung fu red-head... Either way it was not going to be good for him to piss either one off...

"Gemini... He... He..." the henchman coughed nervously. "He is out..."

"Of course he's out!" Shego yelled back. "Where is he, is exactly what we want to know!"

The henchman squeaked in terror as he started rambling off in a high-pitched voice. "Gemini launched his attack on Global Justice headquarters about two and a half hours ago and took everyone else with him except that he left Jeff and I behind to watch the place when he gets back so we decided to cook up a couple of the DiGiornos from Jeff's fridge and then you guys just busted in here and then I have no idea what is going and that scary lady is threatening me and I..."

"Hang on a minute," Kim cut the man off. "You mean Global Justice is under attack _now_?"

Silently the man nodded, as he watched Shego warily out of the corner of his eye.

"That was less than ten minutes after we left, so he's probably already there!" Kim drew a sharp breath. "We're too late! We have to call Dr. Director and let her know..." Whipping out her Kimmunicator, she thumbed the bright red button and a live video feed of Wade's bedroom came onscreen. "Wade?"

"Kim, you won't believe what..."

"No time for that Wade," Kim interrupted the tech genius. "You have to warn GJ that they're going to be under attack."

"Too late, Kim," Wade shook his head. "I just received this message on one of the the unencrypted emergency channels GJ has set up for you! Listen to this..." He tapped away at his keyboard before playing back the sound clip.

"Calling Team Possible..." Agent Will Du's voice filtered in through the speakers as Ron and Shego strained in closer to hear what was going on. "Global Justice is under attack, I repeat, Global Justice is under attack. The enemy has disabled all our systems and the base is being taken over. I will attempt to secure the GJ Command Center, but I am not sure how long we can hold out against the overwhelming forces. If you get this, Team Possible, please assist us immediately! The situation is 'Hard Omega', repeat…"

The message faded off into static, leaving the three people staring at each other agape. Kim was the first to recover. "Oh my god, we're too late... I can't believe it..."

Shego whistled in a low voice, "Yeah... Agent Du actually asking for your help..."

Ron turned to give Shego a strange look, misinterpreting her gaping visage as sarcasm, "Yeah, that too... But I think Kim was referring more to the fact that Global Justice is under attack."

"Anyway," Kim cut them both off as she glanced at her Kimmunicator. "Wade, how soon can you get us back to GJ headquarters?"

"The fastest way is to get to your extraction point and wait for the GJ transport back, Kim," Wade frantically poured over his computer searching for a means to traverse the Pacific Northwest and back to Middleton faster.

"Unless Web didn't get that message and he's still waiting, that'll just be a waste of time! I got a better idea... Kimmie, you try to get hold of Web... You!" Shego barked, turning her gaze on the shirking henchman. "Where does your boss keep his jets?"

"Jets?" the almost-forgotten henchmen squeaked. "Ah... Down the corridor..."

"Good," Shego snapped. "You're going to lead the way, in case our ride is already halfway home... And if any tricks, let me just say that I can burn off a man's limbs and leave him screaming in pain for hours before his heart gives out... Okay?"

"Okay," the henchman gulped as he dragged his leaden feet towards the door. Gemini would probably jettison him into orbit for helping the enemy and giving away one of his jets. He glanced back at the scowling face of the scary lady who was watching him closely through narrowed eyes. But on the bright side, the boss won't be back for a few hours. Maybe that was just enough time to pack and move back in with his mother...

* * *

"So... Kenny, is it?" Ron tried to engage the nervous henchman in friendly conversation as he led the way. "What is it that you henchmen do around here?"

"Oh... You know the drill..." Kenny the henchman cast a nervous glance over his buddy where the man rested on his shoulder. Behind them walked the scowling scary lady and the kung-fu red head with a perplexed look on her face, and he shuddered slightly. "Clean, cook, play cards with the other henchmen and on occasion we see some action... Like when you guys bust in..."

"Uh huh," Ron nodded his head. "Dangerous stuff, I know, playing sidekick to some megalomaniac..."

"Nuh uh..." Kenny the henchman shook his head. "You got it better than the rest of us... I know the sidekick got it hard, you know, being the butt of all jokes, the comic relief and everything else that makes the hero," he jerked his head towards the two femme fatales. "A lot more human."

"You got that right."

"But we henchmen, heh..." Kenny the henchman shook his head sadly. "It's a tough job, and the pay's lousy, all with the credit crisis and all... I look at today's papers and want to cry every time I see my 401k plan..."

"But at least you get medical insurance..."

"Medical insurance? Buddy, if there were no such thing as medical insurance, none of us will be _alive_ for the job!" Kenny the henchman looked startled at the thought. "Kung-fu gal there just took out Jeff and I bet he's got a huge concussion. You know how much X-rays cost these days?"

"I know, I've been in and out of the hospital a couple of times myself... It's usually the sidekick who gets injured..."

"True, but it's always the henchmen who get it first..." Kenny the henchman sighed. "And we don't even get credit anywhere for a plan gone right, you know what I'm saying? At least you get mentioned in the papers! Although with you, they usually get your name wrong... The luckiest we'd ever get is if we don't get our fingers blown off or heads taken off by some overzealous hero-wannabe. Hey, word of advice, buddy? Next time just punch us or trip us over. You don't need to hit too hard. Most of us have learnt by now that once you're down, you don't get up. Not unless you want to get hit again."

"So why do you do it?" Ron asked out of curiosity. "The henchman thing, I mean."

Kenny the henchman shrugged. "For one, it pays the bills. And two, the hours are pretty lax. We don't usually do much in between plots. The usual stuff, clean up, maintenance work, and guard the prisoners. Though some of the crazier ones volunteer to be test subjects for the boss, and the results aren't too pretty..."

"Wait a minute, you said something about prisoners?" Ron raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any prisoners now?"

"Y-... Yeah..." Kenny the henchmen wondered if he'd let too much on. "Boss just caught a GJ spy a couple days ago. He's down in one of our jail cells now..."

"GJ?" Ron's eyes almost bugged out as he looked over in alarm at the two women who were eyeing the henchman cautiously as he led them towards the hangar. "Ladies! They've got one of the GJ's infiltration team here as a prisoner! We gotta rescue him!"

"True, Ron..." Shego stopped in her tracks and gazed piercingly at Kenny the henchman. "You sure there's a prisoner here?" she threatened in a deep guttural growl. "If this is a trap..."

"No!" Kenny the henchman yelped in fear as he recoiled a little and tried to hide behind Ron. "I swear... He's down in minimum security, the cells are nice and everything... Boss captured him... Don't know much about the guy, except that he worked over in Communications..."

"We better get him out then," Kim spoke to Shego as she tugged her sleeve impatiently. Then turning to the frightened henchman, she asked, "Could you lead the way?"

"It's just down here, at the end of this corridor..." Kenny gulped as he felt his antiperspirant finally fail him. Pointing down the next corridor to their left, he found himself reaching for his inhaler. "Last door on the left..."

"Oh hell," Shego muttered as Ron and Kim ran down the corridor without a second thought. Giving the henchman one last evil glare, she muttered, "If this is a trap... I'm going to do things to you that you thought were anatomically impossible... Clear?"

"One hundred percent," Kenny the henchman nodded.

"Shego, calmly?" Ron said, earning a momentary contrite expression from Shego.

"Does everyone think I'm on edge?" Shego asked in an exasperated tone, before turning an angry glare back to Kenny the henchman to a much suffering sigh from Kim. "You! Lead the way!"

"Please and thank you," Kim added with an almost apologetic look to Kenny the henchman, gently placing a calming hand on Shego's shoulder.

"Umm..." Kenny the henchman shuffled his feet back towards the prison cells, his pace far slower than Shego seemed to appreciate.

"Move!" Shego growled and, despite Kim's calming gesture, lit up her hands threateningly.

Yelping in fright, he scampered off ahead of the two teens and their older partner. _At least the blond's a nice and decent guy._

Team Possible and Kenny the henchman soon found themselves standing outside what looked like a standard prison door, the wall to the cell, set back from the hallway by three and a half feet of space. Ron and Shego were peering in through a foot square window about eye level from the door, while Kim kept an eye on Kenny the henchman.

The room, however, seemed to be black as pitch. Turning fully towards the henchman, whose breathing was somewhat labored, Kim asked, "Is this the cell?"

"Uh huh..."

"Wait, KP... I think I see someone," Ron exclaimed as he squinted his eyes. "Quick, how do I open this?"

"Umm..." Kenny the henchman looked around for a moment. "I'm not too sure... Usually boss opens these cells with the computer on his wrist. And the cell block locking system is separated by an 'air wall' so people like your hacker can't get in..."

"Just let me do this," Shego growled impatiently. Lighting up her hands in plasma, she slammed her right fist into where she approximated was the deadbolt. The huge metal frame groaned and buckled a bit under the impact of the blow which left a searing, molten mark where she struck. Taking a deep breath, she drew her arm back again and put her whole strength into her second punch.

The sheer impact tore a hole through the three inch-thick reinforced steel door where the locking mechanism was. The bar holding the spring loaded bolts in place shattered under the impact and thebolt springs let loose, snapping the bolts from their receiver holes in the wall surrounding the door. Lazily, the door swung open, bathing part of the darkened cell with light.

Ron stepped into the cell first, having seen the man straight across from the door. He stopped after the lights suddenly snapped on. "Oh, shit..." Ron croaked in a weak voice. "Kim, Shego... It's not pretty in here..."

There was a Global Justice agent seated directly across from the cell door. He was strapped in place on a cot that was bolted into the wall, his arms held in place above his head with nylon straps much like those that held his bloodied, battered body in place. His head lolled limply on his chest and his jumpsuit was soiled and tattered, with splotches of dried or still drying blood. The fingers of his right hand were pointed at odd angles, obviously broken, and the blood splotches on his underclothing indicated that his torture seemed to have been done to inflict immense pain.

"Ron," Shego choked from her position at the doorway, holding her breath at the ruinous odor in the cell, "Hold up." Taking a moment to adjust to the sight, she placed a hand on Ron's shoulder reassuringly. Turning to look at Kenny the henchman with a deadly glare, she remarked coldly, "Guess you guys don't treat your prisoners right..."

"It's not me!" Kenny the henchman gulped at the way Shego was eyeing him. "Boss is the one who does all the prisoner interrogations! I had no ide-..."

"Oh, I suppose you just sat there and let him do this?" Shego snarled as she pointed at the body. "Give me one good reason I should even let you walk out of here alive!"

Kenny the henchman shook his head, as he repeated to himself over and over. "No… It can't be… The International Supervillain's Union said so… You _can't_ maim or kill prisoners directly like this!" He whined with honest tears of hurt on his face. "I don't know what's going on here, believe me!"

"I don't care…" Shego said after a brief moment, her face unreadable. "You're taking him down and helping us get him out, understand?" She shoved the blubbering henchman into the cell roughly.

Kim pulled Shego back from the doorway, finally stopping at what seemed to be the dividing line between the hallway and the cell's doorway. "Sheila…" she began before being cut off by the tremor and clank of more loosening bolts beneath her feet.

"Breakout attempt detected," a cool, computerized feminine voice announced, "Lockdown procedures initiated."

A loud, heavy clack echoed above them, and Kim and Shego snapped their heads up. A four inch slab of steel started falling from its position to seal off the cell even as the dividing line between Kim and Shego snapped down and open, revealing a heavy duty rubber channel beneath it.

"Sheila!" Kim screamed out as thirty two tons of steel scythed its way between them, separating Kim from the rest of Team Possible. The sound of hydraulic actuators protesting the immense force bearing down on them was clearly audible, even over the almost deafening sound of the steel slapping into the rubber channel in the floor.

"Sheila! Ron!" Kim called over the ringing in her ears, "Are you two alright?" Not hearing a response, she whipped her Kimmunicator out to call Wade, only to find the young genius onscreen.

"I'm already receiving a call from Ron," he said in a surprised tone, typing on his keyboard. "Putting you through!"

"KP, are you alright?" Ron's voice filtered reassuringly through the Kimmunicator's tiny speaker. Kim closed her eyes briefly as she heard Ron's voice and felt an overwhelming surge of relief as she heard Shego's enraged cursing filtering through the phone. A relieved, but unwelcome laugh escaped her lips.

"Yeah, you're guys alright?" she asked with a shaky, relieved tone in her voice.

"Kimmie, what the fuck just happened?" Shego yelled harshly as she tore the device out of Ron's hands.

"I dunno, Sheila, a wall just fell from the ceiling..." Kim said in worried confusion.

Shego nodded, a brief, relieved smirk on her face at seeing Kim was alright, "Yeah, that's what I saw, too..." she muttered before looking off-screen and yelling at someone else. "You! This smells like a goddamn trap! Did you do something?" Kim could hear

"Ah, Kim," Ron took over after the Kimmunicator was tossed back to him. "Yeah, we're alright in here, except for the smell and, well..." Ron glanced around, his face growing a little green as he did so. "Don't worry, the agent's alive, and we'll be out with him in a bit…"

"Ron, be careful okay?" Kim tried to force a smile on her face.

"Yeah sure… Hang on a minute…" Ron whipped his head around, before saying in a startled voice. "What did you say?"

"What's going on, Ron?" Kim felt a sense of panic gripping her heart.

"Ah, KP… Nothing to worry…" Ron replied. "Kenny's just checking on the guy…"

Ron's voice was suddenly interrupted by a loud shriek from Shego, "No, you fucking moron! Don't move him! Shit!"

Kim stared in fear at the sudden sharp movement as the Kimmunicator was jerked around. Holding the device closer, she cried out, "Ron! Sheila! Talk to me! What's going on?" She approached the steel panel and pounded on it frantically. "Talk to me!"

"Bomb, KP!" Ron wheezed breathlessly as his face suddenly came into view briefly. "The guy was sitting on a deadman's switch and there's a timer goin-…"

Her mouth gaped open in horror as Ron's Kimmunicator was knocked from his hands, the video feed swirling wildly before landing facing the cell door. "Get out of there, Ron!"

"Uh…"

"Move, Stoppable!" Shego's voice was heard. "Move!"

"I am…"

"No! This way…"

"Faster…" Shego's scream was punctuated by a low-pitched burst and Ron's protesting voice.

"Shego, I..."

"You first, _now_!"

Kim stared at the Kimmunicator screen fearfully as the last words of her friends trickled through its small speaker, before the screen went yellow-white and suddenly blacked out.

A deafening wall of sound and force knocked Kim's feet from under her, making the wall shake and buckle ever so slightly. She fell awkwardly on her left wrist, and as she tried to recover from the fall, her whole world rumbled and shook beneath her feet, before stopping almost as fast as it had begun.

Ignoring the sharp pain shooting up her arm, she looked in horror at the solid steel wall, its solidity seeming to mock her with its silence. Finally finding her footing, she scrambled frantically to her feet, swinging her fists against the door. Pain lanced up her arm again, and she moaned, finally calling out into the sickening silence, "Ron! Sheila!"

Her cries fell on deaf ears as the cold steel panel refused to budge. And as the strength of her voice left her, she was left whimpering as she called out again, "Ron? Sheila? Please..."

She looked down at the Kimmunicator in her hand, furiously thumbing the 'Connect' button, trying hopelessly to re-establish contact. Giving up, she pounded on the steel wall with all her might, her fear and adrenaline fueled panic letting her ignore the pain in her wrist. "Ron! Sheila!" Kim screamed as she pounded loudly on the steel door.

Finally stopping, Kim held up her Kimmunicator and pleaded, "Wade... Is... Tell me the other Kimmunicator is working... Please, Wade..."

"Kim... I..." Wade managed, shaking his head in shock as tears sparkling at the corners of his barely teenaged eyes. Suddenly, he shook his head and began to type as if possessed, trying to hack into a system he knew was unavailable, trying to boost the signal of Kim's Kimmunicator, even using the base's comm. systems to do so. He shook his head more and more insistently at each failure, finally stopping and letting his hands rest next to his keyboard. "I'm sorry, Kim."

"Wade?" Kim asked, a short sniffle escaping her as she realized there was nothing. No sound was coming from the other side, nor was there any contact with the other Kimmunicator. Hot, shocked tears began to stream down her face as she slumped down, defeated against the cold steel wall.

The loud clang of a steel grate hitting the floor startled Kim enough to make her jump to her feet. She felt her breath hitch a few times as she glanced down the corridor through blurry eyes, her tone when she spoke still sounding broken to her ears. "Ron?" she croaked, hardly daring to hope. Then a familiar shadowy figure slipped out through the grate in the ceiling to the sound of ripping fabric, but landing in a surprisingly graceful manner. "Ron?" Kim staggered forward haltingly, unwilling to trust her own eyes.

"Heya, KP," Ron's familiar face, caked in a layer of dirt, beamed at her happily before he held out his arms. Kim stopped a few feet from him, her face hopeful but confused, before she glanced down, seeing his torn pants and an angry-looking scrape down his left leg. "I, um..." he muttered sheepishly, blushing and dropping his arms slightly, "I kinda caught the grating when I dropp-..."

"Ron!" Kim half-screamed as she dived into his arms and squeezed him as tightly as she could. "Ron… I thought you… The bomb…"

"Naw, KP," Ron shrugged as he nuzzled against his girlfriend. "We made it out through the vent on time…"

"Where's Sheila?" Kim asked suddenly, her face losing color.

"Right here, Princess," Shego coughed twice before struggling to lower herself down from the vent. She landed lightly enough on her feet, but stumbled a bit before catching her balance, her body protesting the exertion. "Shit!" she winced, reaching around to her back to pull out a three inch long shard of metal from her back from just above the kidneys, half its length covered in the raven haired woman's blood. "Damn, Princess… See what I said about protection? That should've cut me nearly in half, y'kn-oof!"

Shego was caught unprepared as Kim suddenly latched onto her in what was more a full on tackle than a hug. She stumbled a few steps backwards before looking down at Kim in surprise. "Hey, we've only been gone for a few minutes," Shego replied wryly. "Don't tell me you missed me that much…"

"I thought…" Kim hiccupped, as she tightened her grip around the woman's waist. "I thought you were both killed, Sheila!"

"Nah," Shego answered in a soft, seemingly admonished tone, hoping to calm Kim's tense, emotional state, "Takes a lot more than a couple of claymores to kill me," Shego grinned as she stroked the red-head's hair. "No thanks to that son-of-a-bitch henchman. He almost got us killed by moving the agent. Where the hell is that useless ass, anyway?"

"I thought he was after you…" Ron spoke slowly as realization dawned on his face. "Did we…"

"The whole room went up right behind me…" Shego replied, suddenly feeling ill. Staring up at the dark vent in the ceiling, she cursed out loud, "Dammit!"

"He wasn't that bad of a guy," Kim mumbled softly as she glanced over her shoulder at the silent steel door.

"It's okay, KP," Ron placed a reassuring arm over her shoulder and shook her slightly. "You know you can't save everyone…"

"Oh, God…" Kim whispered, shuddering as she massaged her wrist, which had begun aching slightly once her adrenaline started fading. "So, you're sure the agent and Kenny…"

"KP…" Ron said, tightening his arm around her briefly before letting go and glancing back at the cell.

"Anyway," Shego muttered as she turned her back on the cell block, "We better get out of here…. God knows this night's just begun."

"Hang on a minute," Ron stopped the two as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a soggy Naco that he had been saving for later. Kneeling down, he placed it in the center of the corridor, "For you, Kenny, and nameless GJ agent... One for the trip..." Rufus scampered out of Ron's pocket, stood next to the Naco and bowed his head in a sign of respect.

"He just was trying to do his job, wasn't he?" Kim's voice had a noticeable tremble to it as she grudgingly let go of Shego and walked up behind Ron, wrapping her arms around Ron for support.

"Yeah, Kenny was a nice guy..."

"Ah, guys?" Shego interrupted their moment of silence impatiently. "They're dead, and we got bigger things to do... Like saving GJ for one?"

"Sheila..." Kim let go of Ron and spun around, a mournful, angry expression on her face as she looked at the older woman, her eyes glistening.

Shego let out a long sigh, as she walked up and placed her hands on the red-head's shoulders. "Yeah, Kimmie, I know what you're thinking... But you can't save everyone... You _know_ that... None of us can, and this is a dangerous business where people die."

"I know, but..."

"I know," Shego shook her head imperceptibly, while reaching up to wipe the tears from the red-head's cheek. "But right now, we should focus on the people we can save. And then maybe we can get some answers."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked.

"Someone set a trap for us..." Shego replied in a serious tone. "Meaning someone must have told Gemini that we were coming."

"A spy within GJ?" Ron's eyes widened.

"Yeah, probably..." Shego nodded her head slowly. "And I don't know about you guys... But to me, this trap isn't quite Gemini's style..."

Kim looked quizzically at Shego, "Shego, back when we got GJ's message, what did Agent Du mean by 'Hard Omega'?"

Shego looked stoically at the red-head._She'll have to know sooner or later anyway__**…**_ With a loud sigh, she explained, "Hard Omega means that the use of lethal force is required. No more stun guns or rubber bullets. There's no such thing as taking out henchmen by knocking them unconscious or taking them prisoner anymore because they're not going to give us the same benefit of a doubt. The kiddie gloves are off, Princess, and when someone calls a Hard Omega, it's either kill or be killed."

"But…"

"I know, Kim… I don't want to either…" Shego lit up a hand with plasma, giving her face a menacing character as she continued, "But, sometimes… Sometimes, it's unavoidable…" She dropped the plasma from her hands as Kim stared at her wide eyed, and turned to walk down the corridor towards the loading bay.

* * *

The gypsum board on the wall disintegrated as a large ball of plasma impacted it, leaving behind a white chalky puff of dust to settle on the defenders. "Christ, Johanson, keep yer gahdamn head down!" Global Justice Security Agent First Class Johanson felt himself yanked back by the collar behind the corner of the 'T' intersection of the corridor.

"Yessir, Agent Du!" he called back, yet more of the training he'd thought forgotten filtering back into his head.

"Christ! These fuckers're better'n I r'member..." Will Du grated in a drawl that mixed Texas ranch hand and drill sergeant, a sound that seemed very out of place coming from him. "Six right, foah left, two cen'er!" he called out as he lunged partway around the corner.

Placing the sights of his assault rifle squarely on one of the assailants, he squeezed off a short, controlled burst of automatic fire into the man. Before even making sure of the kill, he switched to another and fired, the burst cut short by another plasma burst heading at his face. The second man dropped, but was only wounded; his screams of pain echoing down the corridor.

Ducking back behind the corner, he cursed as he unloaded his empty magazine and slammed in a full one. "Simms!" he barked at a young cadet next to him, who was huddling against the wall holding her sidearm with trembling hands. "If yer not usin' yer pistol, give it ta McKinsie."

The cute, yet meek young agent had not, until a moment ago, participated in anything more hostile than a debate competition. She looked up at Will with wide, terrified brown eyes and nodded her head as she surrendered her semi-automatic SIG pistol to the grimfaced Irishman next to her. Her only job was to translate key strategic languages including Russian, Arabic and a smidgen of some of the region's local dialect, and the recruiter had promised her that she would never need to fire a gun except in training. "This sucks…" she muttered softly, fear thick in her voice.

"On mah mark," Agent Du called out to the agents on his side of the corridor, "Ah wan' all'aya to get 'cross th'hall ASAP, unnerstood'? Johanson, Ramirez, an myself will offah coverin' fire..." Agent Du made a quick mental headcount as he surveyed the remaining available agents.

_Six combat capable, and none of them completely uninju__red... Eleven total... Shit..._ he thought as he glanced across the neck of the 'T' intersection, where Ramirez stood ready next to three of the non-combatant agents. Sighing slightly, Agent Du signaled with his left hand: three, two, one...

He cursed without restraint as a series of explosions rocked the very foundation of the underground building. Gemini must have found his way to the Control Center and was battering down the last line of defenses. Those two feet of reinforced steel doors could only take so much punishment, and with so much resistance between him and the Control Center, it was only a matter of time... He needed a miracle...

Taking a deep breath, he signaled Johanson and Ramirez who raised their rifles quickly into position. He joined them in stepping slightly into the corridor, calling out "Go!" to the people on his side of the corridor. He began firing a steady stream of automatic fire downrange as he crab-walked across the ten-foot wide corridor. His rifle clicked empty about two steps short of the safety of the other side, and dove behind Ramirez just as a shower of plasma and bullets impacted the wall behind them.

The blasts of plasma and automatic weapons fire slowed, then stopped for a moment. Agent Du took the time to load a fresh magazine before peaking around the corner, watching for movement. When he saw a shadow stir from the heavily enshrouding clouds of dust, he swung his rifle towards the moving silhouette. Suddenly two clawed hands shot out and gripped his gun, swinging it upwards as Agent Du fired harmlessly into the ceiling.

"What the hell?" a very pissed off Shego glared at the startled agent in her grip. "Do you intend to shoot us too, Will Douchebag? We just took out your friends down the corridor for you."

Agent Du was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the mint-hued beauty, and again as a red-head and blond teen appeared behind the snarling woman. "No time for that," Agent Du snapped hastily. "Y'all should'a' iden'ifihd y'selves as frien'lies."

"And give you a chance to pump us full of bullets?" Shego replied sarcastically as she let go of his assault rifle.

"Ah do have a bit more control'a mahself 'n that, Shego..." he muttered.

Shego stared at the Asian man standing in front of her for a few long seconds, and could not help but allow a dark smirk at the absurdity of what she was witnessing. "Maybe, but everyone _else_ has been trying to shoot us ever since we got here… By the way, your Texan's showing, Mr-I'm-In-Control."

"Agent Du," Kim spoke up as she stepped around the corner to look at the other huddling agents, trying to ignore the severe change that seemed to have come over the agent. "Where's Dr. Director?"

"Ah..." the second-in-command of Global Justice paused a moment and composed himself by clearing his throat, mindful of his accent. "We lost contact the moment the attack started." He pursed his lips as he glanced back up the corridor, seeing most of the men there unconscious, though a few were dead from gunshot wounds. "Team Possible, Shego, I want you to secure the…"

"Woah, woah. Hold up a minute there, Tex," Shego growled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're not issuing me any orders around here…"

"Ah'm…" Du cleared his throat, and repeated himself clearly. "I am the highest ranking GJ officer around and…"

"Screw rank, I'm not part of your lame…"

"Sheila!" Kim cut her off abruptly with a stern look, rubbing absently at her left wrist. "Forgive Sheila, she doesn't like being ordered around."

"I know. I read her file," Du looked at the older woman coldly. "Here's the current situation, Miss Possible. Gemini is trying to break into our command center and shut down our entire ancillary operations worldwide."

"What's going to happen if he succeeds?"

"GJ would cease to exist," Agent Du looked at them grimly. "It would take months to start up operations again. And during that time…" He left the rest unsaid.

"Alright," Shego huffed as she eyed the GJ agent carefully. "Consider this a _favor_ that I'm doing for you."

"Right," Agent Du nodded imperceptibly. "Ah wan' yer…"

Shego made a throat-clearing sound and pointed at her neck, while mouthing, "Texas."

Casting her an angry glare, he coughed and continued, "Team Possible, you are to go and secure the control center and take Gemini down by any means possible. I will bring my team to secure a temporary barricade in the medical bay and treat the wounded."

"Right, c'mon guys," Kim jerked her head in the direction. "Let's go."

"Huh," Shego snorted as she threw one last nasty glare at Agent Du. "I'm not doing this because you ordered me to. I just felt like kicking some butt. Too bad it's not yours." With those final words, she trotted off in a slow jog after Kim and Ron.

"I'll be down with the six combat able agents here to help ya out as soon as I get some backup called in from Fort Carson..." Will called after them, receiving a dismissive wave from Shego and an affirmative nod from Kim.

"Did you have to do that?" Ron asked curiously as they left the group of agents behind.

"Do what?"

"You know... _Not _be nice to him?"

"He started it. In case you forgot, he just tried to shoot us," Shego retorted.

"It was a mistake, Sheila... It could have happened to anyone," Kim replied as the trio stealthily ran down the corridors towards the Command Center.

"Yeah, well that's what they would say at the funeral too..." Shego rasped. "Besides, he's always been a dick to me."

"Since when?" the two teens echoed. "He seemed happy to see the three of us..." Kim continued.

"Hello? I worked with him just before I quit GJ and he was an ass then, and don't forget him calling me a criminal and being so convinced of my guilt and arrested me and ruined my night at the dance? Henchmen, right!" Shego yelled, as she raised her arm and slammed a few fistful of flaming plasma at a small group of surprised henchmen rounding a corner. Kim barely missed a step as she dove forward, twisted her body and executed a perfect handspring which connected her heels to the jaw of two of them.

"So the drama, Sheila," Kim called back, barely missing a breath as she gracefully landed on her toes like an Olympic gymnast. "Besides, it's an emergency now, of course everyone's tense."

"He still owes me a few apologies," Shego yelled in return as she grabbed a surprised henchman by the collar and swung him with all her might and bowled over another two. "It would be nice if he at least said thanks for pulling him out of that tight spot."

"We'll settle the score with him later," Kim replied with a shrug as she performed a leg sweep and tripped another henchman and pouncing on another with lightning speed. "Right now we have to take out Gemini..."

"Y'know, Rufus," Ron stared agape at the surprising speed the two women in front of him ripped through the contingent of henchmen. "Do you think they're actually taking this seriously? Because I so do not want to be on their bad side when they get serious..."

"Hrnk," Rufus cowered and shut his eyes tight as a henchman went flying by and impacted the wall next to Ron.

"You and me both, pal," Ron sighed as he stepped over the unconscious bodies of the henchmen and ran as fast as he could after the arguing duo.

As the three of them ran past the next and through another squad of henchmen, they came to a large sixteen by sixteen feet steel door with a smoldering hole through the center, no doubt made by a number of very powerful explosives, judging by the surrounding debris. Stepping through cautiously, Kim led them cautiously through the shadows as they kept a watchful eye on the huge suit of powered armor standing in the middle of the room barking out orders.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" Gemini screamed at the henchmen scurrying around. "I ask you to find Dr. Director for me and you all have failed! What is the point of defeating her if she's not around to hear my gloating?"

"You hear that?" Kim whispered to Ron and Shego. "Dr. Director's still missing. We should find her and tell her what's going on. Ron, you're up for it?"

"Sure thing, KP."

"Right, Sheila and I will take out Gemini and secure the Control Center. Stay here until we've distracted him, then go look for Dr. Director..."

"Heh, KP... Guess this time it's you being the distraction now, huh?"

"Hey, you were never the distraction, okay?" Kim gazed at him lovingly. "You're the best partner I've ever had."

"Way to go, Ron," Shego smiled good-naturedly. "But I bet I can outdo him."

"Is everything always a competition with you, Sheila?" Kim asked in an irritated tone, even as she half smirked at the older woman.

"It keeps things fun and exciting," Shego grinned. "So ready?"

"Yup, I'll hit high..."

"And I'll hit low..." Shego finished the rest of her sentence.

"Stay safe, you guys," Ron cautioned the two. "Don't spend too much time arguing with each other, okay?"

"We don't argue," Kim replied sounding miffed.

"Yeah, it's only her disagreeing with everything I say," Shego smiled mischievously.

Ron rolled his eyes as he watched the two. "Alright, see you later then," he whispered, kissing Kim on the cheek without a thought, then sliding away towards the exit. Casting his eyes at the scurrying henchmen, he waited till the coast was clear before he dived through the doorway and was soon sprinting away from the Command Center.

"Alright, Rufus," Ron spoke to his ever-faithful companion. "Where should we start looking?"

"Cheese?" Rufus squeaked from Ron's pocket.

"Right..." Ron shook his head. "The cafeteria again? You know that's not going to happen twice in one night. And don't think I didn't notice you steal that guy's pizza while Shego was roughing him up."

"Cheese!"

"Alright, alright," Ron sighed as he didn't want to argue with the naked mole rat anymore. "How about this, we go opposite of the Cafeteria this time, and if we find Dr. Director, I get ya some good, aged cheddar?" Rufus thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously at the suggestion. The blond nodded back and sprinted the opposite way from the cafeteria, rounding several random corners only to run face-first into someone. Caught in surprise, he stumbled a few steps back only to fall on his behind. "Oh what the..."

He raised his eyes to glance at the person he'd run into and he could only stare slack-jawed as he recognized the head of close-cropped platinum hair, sharp, angularly attractive features, and military fatigues that had haunted more than a couple bad dreams. "Miss ANThropy..." he gulped as the unflinching woman dropped the large sack she was carrying from her left shoulder.

_No__, it's a body,_ Ron realized as she turned to give her full attention to the blond teen.

"Why, hello, what do we have here?" Miss AN Thropy drawled in a sultry voice. "Don't you look familiar?"

"You... You're the one who kidnapped Kim!" Ron scrambled to his feet as he backed slowly away from the dangerous woman. Even though he was usually oblivious to his surroundings, every one of his senses was screaming in panic at the lethal aura the woman was exuding.

"You..." the platinum blond's eyes narrowed. "You... _Now_ I remember you… You weren't supposed to be here… But I remember what you did to me… You fucked me up and fucked Reggie over... Daddy Chesterfield was pretty pissed when he found out."

"What are you doing here?"

"Why, taking out the trash, of course..."

Ron could only glance helplessly around before his eyes fell upon the body she had been carrying. Thinking that that would be him in a few more minutes, he almost fainted in shock when the body stirred and groaned before rolling on its back.

"Drakken?" Ron's eyes widened in horror at the man's face; he had been beaten almost as badly as the man in the cell in Gemini's base. His face was bruised and bleeding so much that made his blue tinged skin almost looked normal.

"Dr. Lipsky..." Miss AN Thropy growled angrily as she spun around and delivered a sharp kick with her steel-toed combat boots into his side. "I said stay down!"

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

She slowly turned around to bare her toothy rictus-like grin. "Or? What are _you_ going to do about it, boy?"

"I... Err..." Ron gulped as he took another step back. "I... I'll stop you..." He tried mimicking a kung fu stance that he'd seen Kim use so many times before. "L-look..." Ron stammered, trying to will his innate Mystical Monkey Power into action. "I... I've beaten you once before... And I'll... I'll do it again..."

"I've been meaning to do something about that," Miss AN Thropy replied thoughtfully, before calling his bluff. "I think I'll go..."

"Whu-..."

The woman reached around her back, where Ron now noticed two different handles sticking out from two hilts. With a sharp hissing shrill, Miss ANThropy whipped out two oblong, almost axe-like knives.

_What were those called? Kukris!_ Ron thought, suddenly disturbed that his 'never be normal', nerd-like knowledge manifesting itself at this time.

"Nice, huh?" Miss ANThropy asked almost coquettishly, briefly eyeing the two blades. The left hand blade was somewhat more ornate, with a steel wire made into a complex braid wrapped around the carved animal horn handle. It was topped with a lapis inlaid, polished steel pommel. There were carvings on the upper edge and fuller that went along the upper edge of the blade, which was polished to a bright, glimmering sheen. The other kukri was much simpler. The blade shone in a dull, nearly unreflective manner, with a simple, knurled steel handle and pommel. "I got these off of two Gurkhas who actually put up quite a decent fight before I killed them…"

Ron watched in horror as she twirled the blades expertly in her hands. With a swagger, she took a step closer to the blond, raising the knives slowly.

"Of course, that fight wasn't as interesting as ours," she declared sinisterly as she slid her legs wider apart. "So… Let's have a rematch."

Ron only had time to slide Rufus out of his pocket, with the gesture to go get help, before turning to face perhaps the third deadliest woman he know.

_Let's be honest,_ an often disregarded part of him grudgingly admitted. _She almost took Shego down... C'mon mystical monkey mojo… I know you're in there... Power up! Super-saiyan mode! Transform! Oh… Shit…_

The mental scream of pure fear had barely completed when the platinum blonde leaped at him, the two kukris screaming silently through the air, angling for his neck.

_Oh shit..._

_

* * *

_

**Author's Notes**

Yeah, I'll keep this short and sweet. Been excruciatingly busy. Loads of things happening this time around. Way loads, should have been two chapters, but I'm running on a tight schedule here. At last, well, there's an inkling of a plan unfolding as to Gemini's plans and whatever the heck is Miss A doing there?

And yes, they killed Kenny. I'm not making any South Park jokes, okay? I just used the name Kenny…

And like Aunty Shego said, remember kids, protection is more important than comfort. Aww... I really need to get my mind out of the gutter.

Oh yeah, Fourth Annual Fannies. Do nominate and vote. This is only a Public Service Announcement.


	18. Chapter 18

Ron barely managed to duck under the blades whipping for the jugular in his neck a bare instant ago. His mind was a whirl of panic and fear as he rolled to his right, barely avoiding a backswing with her left hand and ducking the follow-up kick she sent after the blade.

"Not bad, Blondie… Not bad at all…" The platinum blonde almost cooed at him as she resettled herself back into her stance. "But why don't you show me some of that Tai Sheng Pek Kwar of yours? Or maybe even some of the Ron Factor?"

Ron missed a step in surprise and stumbled, luckily, out of the way of a slashing _kukri_ that could have easily severed his left arm. "Ron Factor?" he asked, trying his best to sound confused.

"Now, now…" Miss ANThropy clucked her tongue playfully as she swaggered up to him. "Don't play dumb with me… I've looked through your files and I know everything there is to know about you. Even about the Ron Factor and your secret ninja training…"

"I don't…"

Miss ANThropy gingerly juggled her _kukri_ in her right hand before suddenly reaching for something behind her and whipping it around at super-human speed, just in time to catch the _kukri _as it landed in her palm again. Ron reacted without thinking; his instinctual ducking swivel of the hips was just enough, and he felt something sharp and pointed whizzed less than an inch by his face. A deafening, gunshot-like crack sounded behind him and his face was stung by small chunks of concrete. He glanced to his left and his eyes widened in shock at the throwing spike embedded to the hilt in the concrete wall.

"Oh, nice move, Blondie!"

Finally, the blond teen choked out, "That's… That's impossible!"

"Oh no, Blondie, it is actually _very_ possible…" she purred throatily, licking her lips as though she was about to savor a meal. "I'm at the top of my game now. All I needed was a little pick-me-up… You know, my own little _oomph _to return the favor to you and that little amateur friend of yours."

"Heh…" Ron laughed weakly. "Think you should lay off the coffee then…"

"Enough!" Miss ANThropy raised her voice sharply. "Now give me your best shot, Blondie… Or you won't even get to see all my tricks; I got a pretty interesting finale lined up for you… And it would be oh so sad if you can't even put up a decent fight."

Ron gulped as he glanced again at the metal implement buried in the solid concrete wall. "Ah… Lady…" Ron stammered nervously as he started back-peddling slowly. "I think you got the wrong person… I don't know anything about this…" He screwed up his face as he tried to enunciate the words, "…_Tay Shong Pekwan_, and you are seriously whacked if you think that this Ron Stoppable is a secret ninja cadet from Yamanuchi…"

A wide smile broke out on her features, making her look like the cat that ate the canary. "I never said anything about Yamanuchi, Blondie…"

"Aww… Snap…"

"Now show me some of that glowing blue shit of yours!" Miss ANThropy ordered as she swung both kukris downwards at him, before quickly following up with a shoulder check. Ron barely managed to twist his torso enough to be pushed several feet back from the deadly woman, just out of harm's way. "Otherwise, I'm just going to have to kill you for wasting my time…"

"Lady, I think you got it all wro-… Hey, look! A pink elephant!"

"Nice try, Blondie…" Miss ANThropy didn't even flinch as she stalked him slowly with that cruel smile plastered across her lips. "I know you are always the designated distraction of Team Possible, the _master _of distraction, if I do say so myself… But no bumbling idiot would have been able to survive as long as you did without an ace up your sleeve. But since you so stubbornly refuse, I'm going to _make _you show it to me…"

With that she surged forward, spinning as she came at Ron, delivering kicks, knees, elbows and knife slashes towards the blond teen. He somehow managed to dodge all the knife attacks, and most of the other strikes, and those he did not he managed to blunt with blocks or redirections. It didn't help his emotional state when that strangely detached part of him noticed that she seemed far, far more dangerous than any of the HenchCo Spinning Tops of Doom he had ever seen.

* * *

In the middle of the Command Center, Gemini stood in his Mecha-Assault Armor, or mech as he would like to call it. It literally encased his body in metal and composite, making his already imposing stature even more so. The powered armor was about ten-feet tall, armed to the teeth and able to deliver and receive quite a beating. Sitting on his shoulders were two racks of light anti-personnel missiles, while his left arm casing housed a variable power, rapid-fire plasma cannon and his right arm casing was armed with twin fifty caliber machine guns. All this was powered by a small, light water nuclear reactor housed in the rear chassis of the metal giant that easily weighed in at three and a half tons.

It was designed for the sole purpose of directly assaulting a heavily armed enemy, matching firepower for firepower by way of brute force. Or specifically, Gemini modified the existing design to take on his annoying snob of a sister and her army of well-trained Global Justice agents.

He thumbed a small button and shouted at his men through the microphone, "What's taking so long, you incompetent fools? We should have taken complete control of Global Justice headquarters by now!"

A henchman nervously raised his head from behind a computer console and in a meek voice replied, "I'm sorry sir, but the codes we got were already invalidated! Someone out there has got the codes cycling through a random maximum-entropy generator every fifteen seconds, and we need a little more time to break through the encr-…" His voice died off in a squeak as he ducked down behind the console. A large bluish ball of plasma energy had just barreled over his head and splashed against the far wall, leaving behind the odor of ozone and super heated steel.

"Excuses!" Gemini roared as he stomped over, each footstep shuddering throughout to the room. He picked the offending henchman up like a child would a rag doll and threw him against the wall. "I want control of Global Justice headquarters and I want it now!"

Another frightened, yet foolhardy henchman nervously slid into the newly vacated seat, gulping loudly as Gemini's gaze bore into him. With beads of sweat clearly dripping off his brow and overpowering his antiperspirant, he started typing away frantically.

Gemini turned to survey the huge panel of flashing monitors. His eyes darted across the hundreds of live feeds from the internal surveillance cameras that seemed to cover every square foot of the Global Justice headquarters. A cruel smirk spread across his lips as he caught a glimpse of a platoon of henchmen pinning down a small detachment of Global Justice agents with a non-stop barrage of energy bursts from their weapons.

Taking a moment to survey the scene the wall of security feeds presented him, he congratulated himself on a surprise attack well-executed. The GJ forces were scattered, there were only small pockets of resistance, and the internal security protocols have all been shut down. Despite the bulk-rate cheapness of his henchmen, they had already taken over more than two thirds of the base, focusing on the key entry points, central command center and auxiliary command center and had released the prisoners from the holding facility, bolstering his forces as about a third of them joined the fight. It didn't matter whether they were on his side or not; they had a lot of hatred for GJ and as they say, "The enemy of my enemy…"

He had obviously gained the upper hand, and his smile threatened to split his face in two. Clearly it was only a matter of time before they will have his sister, Dr Director, and have brought her before him to hear him gloat…

Had he just been paying a little more attention, he might have noticed a lithe red-headed teenage girl had just ran by behind him and ducked behind the cover of a few desks at the back of the room. She slowly raised her head to check if the coast was clear, before raising her arms, propping her elbows on the desks and holding her trusty grappling gun in her hand.

A faint pop sounded as Kim fired the grapnel, letting loose the grappling hook. To Gemini's quite audible surprise, the cord wrapped itself around his right arm. Spinning to look around, he saw Kim's head for a second before she ducked back behind the desk.

"Kim Possible," Gemini crowed with glee. He raised his right arm, the machine guns' safeties clicking off as he aimed it in her general direction. It didn't matter where she hid; the twin machine guns could each fire six hundred rounds per minute and all it would take is just one bullet. "I was wondering when you'd show up!"

"I paid you a house visit, but we must have missed each other," Kim called back from behind her cover.

The henchmen instantly moved up to cover the position of the teenage heroine, holding their weapons in their hands, ready to fire. However, Gemini laughed and waved them off. Knowing that their boss intended to take her on personally, they gave each other worried looks. Not that they wanted to fight the infamous Kim Possible; she was liable to knock them out. But somehow, they reasoned, with the kind of heavy artillery that their boss was packing, collateral damage would literally mean six feet under. Slowly, some of them edged their way towards the exit, though a few more foolhardy ones quickly returned to their post to resume the decryption of GJ's command protocols.

Letting out a malicious laugh, Gemini willed the guns to fire; the neural interface of the suit instantly relayed his command to the guns, their triggers immediately engaging, sending a fifty round burst towards the computer station the red-head was using for cover. As the gyros compensated for the sharp recoil, he trained his fire along the back of the room.

A brief flash of red caught his eye as Kim dove out from behind her cover and sprinted over to the other side of the room. Gemini instantly trailed her swift movements with his weapon, simultaneously trying to get a lock on her heat signature for the anti-personnel missiles lying in wait on his shoulder racks. His fire laid a trail of splintered office furniture, plastic and metal shards as he tore up the furniture and various non-essential computer consoles in the Command Center.

Kim vaulted over the heads of a few very surprised henchmen/technicians at the moment. As one of them tried to grab her foot, she twisted her body out of the way and did a neat little handspring behind the computer consoles.

In a mocking tone, Gemini called out, "Come on out little girl… It's only a matter of time before I get you."

"You should be the one surrendering!" Kim called out from her hiding place. "This is your last chance."

"Surely you jest!" Gemini laughed. "I'm the one with all the trump cards right now! GJ is overrun with my men and escaped prisoners! My victory is assured and your puny grappling gun cannot _hope_ stand up to the might of my Mecha-Assault Armor!"

"Geez," Kim groaned out loud. "_Someone's_ been hitting the Japanese cartoon channel for inspiration these days. The Disney Channel isn't good enough for you?"

That seemed to get a rise out of Gemini as he fired a warning shot of plasma at the wall behind Kim's hiding place. The intense burst of heat caused her to shield her face with her hands, but otherwise did little to harm her. "Little girl," he ranted angrily. "I have little time to play hide-and-seek with you, so surrender right now, because I can't promise you will live if you stand against me!"

Kim bravely stepped out from behind the terminals and faced Gemini. "Thank you for offering, but I don't think so," she replied defiantly.

"Then it has been nice knowing you. Not!" Gemini laughed as he fired both of his machine guns, his anti-personnel rockets and the plasma cannon at the teenage heroine.

To his surprise, she somersaulted forward, and in mid-air, pressed the rewind button of her grappling gun, the sudden burst of speed causing over half of the missiles to splash harmlessly into the ground behind her as they again lost track of the heroine. She landed on her left foot with her right foot outstretched, and slid towards the hulking machine Gemini manned like a skier, and her momentum carried her to him and right between his legs.

Gemini glanced downwards in surprise and realized that she was already behind him, at least according to his rear view monitors. As he tried to turn the assault suit around, the warning panel started flashing, indicating that something had jammed up his right leg. Grinding his teeth furiously, he increased power to hydraulics and tried to force his right leg to move when suddenly another warning light came on. Structural integrity of his right arm was being compromised as he forced it to move.

Gemini quickly ran a diagnostics check and scanned his external cameras for signs of damage. His eyes bulged as he caught sight of Kim's grappling hook, the line neatly wrapped around his right elbow joint. He tried to break free of it, only to set off more warning tones as his computers registered further structural damage. He'd underestimated the tensile strength of the grappling cable that entangled his mech and his struggles were causing the metal and composite sub-armor to buckle against the ridged outer armor.

Growling in annoyance at his vulnerability, he prompted the small cutting laser housed in the torso of the powered armor to get to work on the cord. The device snaked out and easily cut its way through, freeing the behemoth from its bindings, and Gemini turned with a smirk on his face. "Nice try, Possible," Gemini smirked. "But you haven't stopped me yet! Your grappling line is in shreds, there's no way you can stop me now!"

"She can't…" A voice called out from overhead, and Gemini jerked his head towards the source. It sounded far too feminine to be Kim Possible's sidekick. "But I can!"

A green and black shadow, stood up from the overhanging ventilation ducts and flung green glowing plasma at the henchmen who were watching the battle. The surprise of the attack and the familiar eerie green glow told the henchmen all they needed: that the deadly mercenary Shego was on scene, and seemed to be on Team Possible's side.

The remaining henchmen scattered as quickly as they could; no one, not even the bravest or the most foolish, wanted to be caught between their boss and the notorious mercenary. As the men bolted to the door, Shego jumped from her vantage point, with her fists raised over her head and unleashed the full force of her momentum as she smashed a large dent in the mech's composite chest armor.

The tremor of the blow made the incapacitated mech shudder as the gyros struggled to compensate. Just as quickly, Shego started raining punches at the dent she had made. Gemini only had a brief glance at her gritted smile as she gave one final blow that punched through the armor and severed the circuits to his external cameras.

"Impossible!" Gemini screamed, as his monitors winked out and displayed white noise. "My armor is designed to face _tanks_…"

"Actually, it's Kim Possible… And I'd take Sheila over a tank any day!" the red-head quipped. "Hurry up, Sheila!"

"Just a bit more," Shego groaned as she strained against the armor. "This thing is tougher than Heg-…" Her body suddenly jerked in spasms as three hundred and fifty thousand volts of low amperage current flowed into her body. As her muscles locked up in synaptic shock, Shego crumpled to the floor with every cell in her body screaming in pain.

"Aha, you're not as powerful as you thought, eh, Shego?" Gemini crowed as he opened the titanium reinforced blast shields to reveal himself seated safely behind a reinforced clear composite faceplate. As he looked at down at Shego's body laying at his feet, he gloated, "That's what you get for destroying my cameras…" He raised right foot of his mech, ready to stomp on her twitching body.

"Sheila!" Kim screamed as the giant metal limb crashed into the ground, erupting gouts of dust.

"Oh, don't worry, little girl, you're next!" Gemini spat as he whirled around and engaged the trigger of his twin fifty caliber machine guns in the general direction of the teenage red-head. He waited a second before he realized that there was a system malfunction. Screaming in rage, he clicked away uselessly before slamming his hands on console.

"Whoops," a familiar voice sneered sarcastically as a small square box was flung carelessly in front of Gemini. "I guess you needed that part…" Shego stood her ground looking no worse for wear, only a slight sheen of sweat on her skin and her hair looking somewhat tousled.

"Shego! Won't you just stay _dead?!" _Gemini screamed as he swung his right arm, hoping to catch her with a backhand. The woman easily sidestepped the clumsy swing and retaliated by throwing two bursts of plasma at the cockpit. Gemini had time to shield himself with his other arm and the plasma sizzled harmlessly against the composite armor. "My turn…"

Shego's eyes widened as there was a high pitched, staccato burping which preceded a low bass thump. She dodged to the side on pure instinct, and an instant later a ball of super-heated plasma hurtled towards her. She could feel the heat against her face as she barely managed her headlong dive from its scorching path.

"I don't think so, Ms. Mercenary!" Gemini crowed gleefully as he unleashed a barrage of anti-personnel missiles at her landing spot. Shego could only scuttle out of the way and tossed her plasma haphazardly over her shoulder as she scrabbled behind a line of computer terminals.

She glanced up to see Kim crawling towards her, a worried look on her face, "Sheila, you okay?" she asked as she hunkered down by her mint hued friend.

"Just peachy," Shego grunted. Unfazed by another shot of plasma which scorched the wall and terminal behind them, Shego glanced back at Kim. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Fine…" Kim said as she massaged her wrist slightly, wincing as several more rockets whizzed by overhead or imbedded into the computer station behind her. Shego glanced at her in a disbelieving manner that spoke volumes and Kim sighed heavily. "Okay, not one hundred percent… I think I sprained it when the claymores went off at his base. But I got it handled."

"You sure?" Shego asked, watching Kim as she rubbed her wrist for a moment. Kim nodded, her face set despite the obvious pain, and Shego nodded, "Okay, what's plan B?"

"We don't have a Plan B," Kim shook her head as she peeked out from behind the corner at Gemini.

"Okay, since his blast shields are open and he's distracted, how about you get up close and personal to him again, and I'll blast through his facepla-…" Shego started, but Kim shook her head.

"Can't," Kim replied as she looked at the hulking mech, before they both had to crawl further down the line of terminals as another blast of plasma took out the area where they had just been. She winced and rubbed her wrist again as she continued, "He'd gun us both down before we get anywhere close to him…"

"Any more snazzy gadgets Nerdlinger cooked up for you?" Shego asked.

"I got nothing…"

"Ah bugger," Shego cursed. "We need to immobilize him somehow… Your grappling gun's gone…"

"What about that?" Kim pointed up at a thick, braided stainless steel line that was covered with an arrow labeled 'Flow direction' and 'Caution: LN2 Coolant Feed Line'.

"Kim…" Shego's face broke out into a smile. "I could kiss you right now! That's brilliant!"

"We're not out of this yet, Sheila," Kim replied. "We need some sort of first-class distraction to hold his attention. I wish Ron was here…"

"One first-class distraction, coming up," Shego grinned as she gave Kim a wink. Before Kim could say a word, Shego leaped out from her hiding place and hollered at Gemini while blasting him with a few balls of plasma, "Hey One-Eye! I don't want to diss your ride, but that suit of yours has got to be compensating for something… People with inadequacy issues _usually_ just get a Ferrari, y'know."

"Sheila!" Kim hissed from behind her cover. "What are you doing?"

"Distracting, what else?" Shego smirked. She turned back to Gemini and hollered out, "Hey, I bet Bettseven has more balls than you…"

"Laugh all you want, Ms Mercenary…" Gemini replied coldly, as he brought his weapons to bear on the defiant woman standing with her arms akimbo. "Let's see who's laughing now!"

He fired a new barrage of missiles at Shego, who deftly threw a few balls of plasma and detonated mostof them in the air before dodging the few she'd missed. "Puh-leeze… Haven't we seen that trick before?" Shego faked a yawn as she covered her mouth.

Gemini gritted his teeth as he powered up his plasma cannon. He pressed a few buttons on his console, switching the weapon to rapid-fire, lower-yield mode, and started firing small bursts of plasma at Shego.

"Woah," Shego exclaimed with the most bored tone she could muster as she ducked and rolled away from the salvo. "Someone's firing blanks… And I don't just mean…"

"You can make all the snippy remarks you want now!" Gemini screamed as his face turned a new shade of puce. "But I will be laughing when I have your head!"

"Big words from a small guy…" Shego riposted with an evil grin, as she ducked behind another computer console only to pop out from the other side. She continued taunting him, "And I don't just mean your…"

Snarling in anger, Gemini was too focused on gunning her down with his rapid stream of plasma to notice the heat warning indicator. The plasma cannon spluttered its final burst of super-heated particles down the acceleration coil which was glowing a faint cherry red. The emergency shutdown protocols, designed into the device to avoid a calamitous explosion, engaged and Gemini howled furiously as he slammed his fists on the console.

"Now, Kimmie!" Shego shouted, seizing the opportunity.

Immediately, Kim hopped onto the computer console and climbed up a support beam, a low whine escaping her lips as her injured wrist protested the movements. When she reached the crossmember next to the liquid nitrogen line, she pulled herself up into a tuck and kicked off with her feet, barely grabbing the heavy duty stainless steel braid with her good hand while reaching into her left pocket.

"I don't _think_ so!" Gemini hollered, turning towards the red-head and training the anti-personnel missile pods at her. Just as he was about to fire, a loud explosion rocked the mech and half a dozen alerts started flashing on his console. He cursed as the diagnostics check revealed that one of his missile pods had just been blown off, knocking the mech off-balance and causing it to lose its lock on Kim.

"Damn you, Shego!" Gemini cried as his missiles lost their all important lock and detonated uselessly about the room.

Kim ignored the desperate battle below her as she felt her fingers close around the smooth casing of her laser lipstick before deftly removing it and activating the tiny device. She pointed the high-powered micro laser out and away from her about four feet, instantly slicing through the line as a gout of instantly boiling liquid nitrogen belched forth.

Kim deactivated the laser and slipped it back into her pocket, then brought her legs up to her chest. An instant later, she kicked up and held her legs against the ceiling, pushing downwards from the ceiling with all of her strength. After a brief hesitation, she managed to rip the stainless steel braided tubing from its moorings, which allowed her to drop down and land precariously onto Gemini's left shoulder and shoved the line right in between the narrow crevice between the main cockpit and the left arm of the mech, the liquid nitrogen splashing against his left arm and the faceplate.

"No!" Gemini protested. He swatted uselessly at Kim, who jumped away before he could electrify his armor again. Alerts started flashing on his console as half a dozen systems immediately demanded his attention.

A web of wintry spider cracks spread out across the plasma cannon and rapidly cooling the surrounding area, causing ice to crystallize on his faceplate. The sudden chill caused the metal shriek as it protested the sudden, seven hundred degree change of temperature, before a loud crack was heard as the still super heated acceleration coil of his plasma cannon shattered almost explosively, taking the outer composite casing on the entire lower arm with it.

The groaning hulk of metal jerked spastically as Gemini spun the mech's torso, tearing the line of liquid nitrogen away. He searched angrily for Kim, who was again ducking behind a computer terminal.

"You're going to be paste, Possible!" Gemini howled in frustration as he took a step towards the fleeing heroine, when he heard a light tapping on the top of his suit's head.

He looked up to see Shego rapping her knuckles on the clear armor of his faceplate. She waved with her right hand and called out brightly to him, "Hello…" before drawing back a flaming fist.

Gemini only had time to flinch and close his good eye as a shockwave of transparent aluminum and frozen Lexan blasted over him. He felt a clawed hand slash across his chest, shredding through the battle harness of the mech and part of his jumpsuit and the next thing he knew, he was crashing through the faceplate's remnants and flying across the control center with superhuman strength, landing awkwardly on his back.

Looking wearily at the ceiling, he gasped for breath, before two figures stood over him with their arms crossed. Gemini coughed as he caught his wind, "It would seem… That the rumors on the… InTerrorNet and were true… You've gone soft again… Shego…"

"Shut up, Gemini…" Shego barked.

Ignoring her words, he rambled on, "And with your arch-nemesis, Kim Possible, no less… Villainy not paying enough for you?"

"Funny you should say that, considering you just got your ass kicked," Shego replied snidely.

"Touché…" Gemini slowly pulled himself into a sitting position with his back against the terminal. He looked at Shego for a moment before turning his attention to Kim who was studying him with her hands firmly across her chest. "Miss Possible… You have won this time, thanks to your superior sidekick… I daresay Shego's a better choice than… Ah, what's his name…? Something-Forgettable…"

"It's _Ron Stoppable_," Kim and Shego corrected him sharply.

"And if you don't get his name right," Shego added menacingly. "I'm going to do something to you that you'll never forget…"

"Hmph," Gemini replied, sounding amused. "You're a good guy now; you can't do anything to me now that I'm defeated. It's against the rules."

"Screw you, Gemini," Shego growled as she gripped his shoulder and dug her claws into his flesh. "Don't you dare bring up the rules with me, not after what you've done! Not only did you kill a prisoner, you set a trap that killed one of your own henchmen!"

"I have done no such thing," Gemini announced defiantly despite the pain, even in the face of Shego's obvious rage, "I have no idea whatsoever what you mean about a trap, and as you can tell, any casualties here are within the bounds of the Union regulations!"

"Bullshit!" Shego yelled as she slammed the one-eyed man against the wall. "We were at your base of operations! We found the GJ agent, who you tortured, sitting on a death trap as bait for us!" she leaned in, plasma suddenly bursting from her free hand, "Did you think of 'the rules' when you did any of that?"

"There must be a misunderstanding," Gemini explained. "I admit that I did catch a spy, but I was going to let him go after this assault…"

"Yeah right," Shego scoffed, preparing to shove her flaming fist as deep down his throat as she could.

"The most I would do is tattoo his forehead with the words 'Property of WWEE' and send him back to Elizabeth in one piece," Gemini explained calmly. "I don't believe in cold-blooded murder."

"Then tell me," Shego said sarcastically. "What would you call it if you don't call it cold-blooded murder?"

Gemini tilted his head to the side for a moment before focusing his one good eye on Shego. "Hmm… It is possible that she could have done it…"

"Who?" Shego and Kim echoed at the same time.

"Why, I do believe she's an acquaintance of yours…" Gemini smirked at Shego. "She did mention your name quite a few times. As well as yours too, Miss Possible. You two must have pissed her off quite badly…"

"Who is she?" Shego roared as she slammed her fist into the wall, smashing a crater right next to Gemini's face.

Looking unperturbed at Shego, Gemini smiled as he spoke, "She's about five-ten, ex-Special Forces, platinum blonde hair, has a thing for knives and goes by the name of…"

"Miss ANThropy!" Kim finished the rest of the sentence as she gnashed her teeth together. "Where is she now?"

"Why, I do believe she's somewhere around," Gemini waved his hands.

"You mean she's here?" Shego asked incredulously. "What the hell is she doing here?"

"I don't know," Gemini shrugged. "We operate solely on a need-to-know basis. I have no idea what she wants with GJ."

"Where is she now?" Kim asked, worry creeping into her voice.

"Last I heard, she was headed towards the high-security holding cells in the west wing."

"That's where Ron's headed!" Kim's eyes widened. "He's bound to run into her!"

"Then I guess it's a good thing that you already got a replacement sidekick ready, Miss Possible," Gemini quipped as he nodded his head towards Shego.

Wordlessly, Shego raised her finger and discharged a surge of plasma directly to the center of Gemini's forehead. The man instantly slumped forward, his head lolling lifelessly.

"Sheila!" Kim yelped in surprise. "What'd you do?"

"Knocked him out," Shego grunted as she got to her feet. "C'mon Kim, let's go!"

"Is he going to be alright?" Kim cast a worried glance at the seemingly lifeless body.

"Kim!" Shego snapped impatiently. "I don't care about him! He's just going to wake up with a hangover, and that's just too good for him! Right now, we got to find Ron and make sure he's okay!" Without hesitation, Shego broke off into a run towards the exit of the command center.

Wordlessly, with a heavy dreadful feeling in her heart, Kim raced after the older woman while praying with all her might that Ron would still be alive and well when they find him…

* * *

Will Du stuck his head out from behind the makeshift barricade of furniture scrounged from the medical ward. He ducked back for cover as a few energy blasts splashed harmlessly against the wall and upturned furniture, thankful that Gemini's men were just using stun settings currently. The action had died down a while ago, only to pick back up ten minutes ago as a small, but well armed detachment of WWEE henchmen tried to break through the barricade.

A quick retaliatory burst of gun-fire quickly drove the henchmen back to cover, the lack of return fire filling Agent Du with hope they were moving on in hopes of a different way to their destination.

He calmly kept an eye on his watch as the minutes ticked away. Considering the scale of the assault, the minutes felt like hours. The clear lack of action was starting to make him antsy. "What're ya doin', ya bastards?" he grated, wondering for a moment whether he should send out a team in the hidden access ways to reconnoiter the area or not.

So far, they had managed to hold the area for the wounded, but he knew, instinctually, that it was only a matter of time before this group got serious, which would be what The Book called a Bad Thing. After all, any trained operative, GJ or otherwise, would know that a well-defended barricade would allow the enemy to wait for reinforcements. They also knew, however, that sacrificing mobility for defense would be the only rational course of action if their mobility had been compromised.

He again took stock of the situation: a little over a dozen operatives had managed to reach the Med bay, in pairs or in threes. Their injuries were mostly treatable, but supplies were beginning to dwindle. Will Du glanced over his shoulder and counted eight agents besides himself who were still good for a fight.

He sighed and redid his mental headcount, including anyone who could carry a gun. Tilting his head slightly, he watched Simms, the young linguistic specialist who was just barely out of graduate school. He wondered to himself whether he should count her as a combat-worthy soldier; the way she had held her sidearm earlier, and the way she shook, made him think twice. _She was just as liable to shoot a hostile than a friendly_, he concluded, watching as the admittedly cute junior did her best to steady her own hands as she ran around the med bay, trying to be as useful as possible. Du made a mental note to call her down for some private one-on-one shooting lessons once this whole fracas was over.

His thoughts were cut off as he heard a commotion near the knot of WWEE henchmen down the hall, then silence, except for soft footfalls hurriedly coming his way. He immediately propped his assault rifle on the upturned table and trained his sights on the figures he saw, his finger coming from registered beside the trigger guard to rest on the trigger before he recognized the two figures sprinting down the hall.

"Hol' yer fahre!" he ordered his men. "It's Team Poss'ble!"

A soft murmur of heightened confidence buzzed among the agents. However, unlike the morale boost that his men were getting, Will Du's brow furrowed with worry. _What happened? Why aren't they securing the Command Center?_

"She-…" Du's words were suddenly forced out of his chest when a clawed hand gripped his collar and yanked him behind the barricade, into the med bay proper. A pair of deadly emerald eyes looked at him barely an inch away from his face, and her breathless panting washed hot air down his shirt.

"Have you… Seen Ron?" Shego asked between deep gulps of air.

"No… Wha's goin' on?" Agent Du asked crossly, disentangling her hands from his collar and grabbing her shoulders, favoring her with a stern, hopefully calming gaze. To his surprise and relief, she slackened her tense body and backed down. She lowered her gaze towards the ground, panting heavily without further resistance. "Why ain't ya securing the Command Center?"

"It's secured, dammit," Shego snapped back angrily, as she hunched over further, with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Next to her, Kim looked just as breathless as she leaned against the wall with a look of worry on her face.

"Then…"

"Shut up, Du…" Shego ordered as she threw a dirty glare at him. "Just let me catch my breath first…"

"Just… Sprinted here… Fast as we could…" Kim offered an explanation. Agent Du waited a moment, centering himself and allowing them to catch their breath at the same time.

"What's going on with you two?" he finally asked, concern in his tone. They had, after all, sprinted over a kilometer and a half, so he knew it was serious. "Can someone please give me a status report?"

"We did your dirty work for you already," Shego snarled, as she drew back up to her full height. With a baleful glare, she continued, "So the least you could do is be thankful."

Agent Du looked at the two young women with a surge of newfound respect, despite the condescending tone that Shego was using. "So the attack is over?"

"Not yet," Shego shook her head. "Which is why we need to get to Ron ASAP."

"Why?"

"There's a Class-Five… No, possibly Class-Six or Seven threat somewhere in this base," Shego snapped. "Extra-norm, with increased speed, strength and agility, with a pathological desire to cause hurt in others. If you've been following our files, you'll know her from our last mission to rescue Kim."

Agent Du nodded, "Miss AN Thropy. Ex-Special Forces, turned up as a freelance mercenary five years back, suggested ties to various political figures."

"That's the one," Shego gritted her teeth. "Get the Command Center online, we got to do a full facility sweep for this woman. And under no circumstances are your men to engage her. She almost killed all three of us."

"What is she doing here?"

"We don't know…" Kim shook her head.

"But whatever it is, it's not good," Shego added apprehensively. "That's why we need to find Ron, and fast! She's got a grudge against all of us, especially Ron…" The woman threw a worried glance down the corridor before looking back at Agent Du sternly. "So what are you still doing here? Go!"

Agent Du looked grimly at the men around him and his eyes fell on seven capable agent that could shoot, run, and were relatively unhurt that he could take but not leave the force guarding the med bay unprotected. "Appleton, Baranski, Mitchell, Cooper, Ramirez, Gordon and Matthews, you're coming with me to the Command Center. The rest of you stay put and hold the Med bay until I get internal security back up!"

Giving one last look at Shego and Kim, he nodded slightly as a show of thanks before waving his men down the corridor. Then he watched as the two turned and continued sprinting down the hallway, in search of their third partner.

Slapping in a full magazine into his assault rifle, Agent Du looked one last time out from behind the barricade and started moving down the hallway towards the Command Center. The eight men barely met any resistance, save a few dozen henchmen who were lying around unconscious after being taken out by close combat.

Agent Du easily noted the efficacy of the new Team Possible, marveling at the lack of permanent injuries. Every man had been brutally disarmed with their plasma shock staffs and firearms broken or shredded to pieces, but they suffered no life-threatening injuries, just a whole lot of concussions, dozens of contusions, and a few broken joints that would heal easily with time and care.

As he entered the now reclaimed Command Center, he was suddenly struck speechless by the hulk of the disabled powered armor standing in the center, its torso opened like a flower seeking sunlight. It looked to be in near pristine condition, except for the smears of lead, smudges from plasma burns and the shattered faceplate.

Trying to maintain his composure, he signaled his men secure the remaining unconscious henchmen and put them in the center of the room with the still unconscious Gemini where they could keep an eye on them. Going up to the main console, Agent Du quickly took in the sights and to his relief realized that Gemini was nowhere close to hacking into the Global Justice network and shutting down all auxiliary operations.

Tapping in his logon, Agent Du's fingers worked quickly to restore the basic systems to GJ's exclusive control. He smiled in relief as a video window came up on the terminal in front of him from Wade Load, the young prodigy Agent Du knew of as Team Possible's resident hacker and tech guru.

"Got your command protocols backed up." the young teen said evenly, "Enter your codes and you're good to go!"

"Thanks," Agent Du replied evenly, "We'll take it from here, though if ya could assist me in cyclin' secur'ty feeds ta find Ron…" Wade nodded, his fingers flying across his keyboards in a blur.

Agent Du sat down and began entering codes, and after several long seconds, the internal security systems were back in his control. As soon as he had the internal PA back online, he made a stern announcement. "WWEE henchmen, and any villains assisting them. Your attack is over. We have captured Gemini. Put down your weapons and surrender as we have our internal security systems back online. It will only be a matter of time before you're captured or killed, and we want to avoid the latter, as I'm certain you do as well…"

With a satisfied smile, Agent Du looked up at the Command Center's large screen. The display could show thousands of different video feeds, so he brought up all the security cameras in GJ HQ. A grim smile was etched on his lips as he saw Gemini's henchmen dropping their weapons and holding up their hands in surrender all over the base.

"Thank God…" he muttered in heartfelt relief. Behind him, his men cheered as they realized they had not only fought back, but sealed their victory against the odds.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the fleeting figure of Shego and Kim sprinting past a hallway. Remembering that he had yet to locate the threat that was Miss ANThropy, he turned his attention back to the full display, his eyes quickly scanning through the displays trying to find this mysterious platinum blond woman.

Suddenly a small pink mass dropped right in front of Du and he jumped back in surprise, his hand blurring to the assault rifle nestled against his chair even as he realized who it was. The little rodent started chittering at high speeds and seemed to be pointing at something on screen. "Rufus?" Du looked at the little naked mole rat in surprise. "You just missed Kim and Shego…"

Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought he had clearly heard the little critter squeak, "Ron!" and gesture frantically at one of the screens. Skeptically, Du looked closer and squinted at the screen, before bringing up Security Feed No. 227 on the terminal he was sitting at. The lower resolution of the security cameras in that area combined with a scene devoid of any movement had made him overlook it. _Right__ there, almost at the corner of the screen…_

His eyes opened wide with recognition and he instantly activated the boom mic on his headset, calling over the PA again, "Team Possible, west hangar now!"

He watched as Kim and Shego instantly reacted and doubled their pace as they sprinted down the corridor. He considered what to do for the briefest of moments before he switched to a direct and discreet channel to the med bay.

"Ah need full medical team down ta Hangar Bay 2, _now_! We got a man down, I repeat, we've got a man down…" he listened to the question on the other end, before snapping back in frustration. "Ah have no goddamn clue, but ya better bring the whole goddamned med bay with ya! Christ, we ca not lose this'un…"

* * *

Kim swallowed a dreadful lump down her throat as she cast out her morbid thoughts. Her muscles were already screaming in pain, threatening to cramp up and refuse to work. _Almost there,_ she coaxed her tired body on, _just a little more… Around this corner…_

Shego saw him first. Kim rounded the corner an instant later and almost ran headlong into Shego, just as Ron's name escaped the older woman's lips in a howl of anguish. Kim could only stare in shock as she beheld the scene of her deepest and darkest fears.

Ron was lying back on a mound of rubble that had used to be a six-inch thick concrete wall with reinforced steel bars, his head lolling back as if he was taking a much needed nap. The waistband of his khaki-colored pants had become darkened with the blood slowly leaking from his chest, and the three quarter inch thick steel rebar stuck that was protruding just below his sternum.

"Ron!" Kim echoed Shego's howl as she slid to his side on her knees, not caring as his blood stained her clothes. She whimpered as she reached out to touch his… She drew her hand back immediately, fearing that she would make this horrible hallucination become a reality just by touching it. She squeezed her eyes again and tried to wish it away, but through the tears, she could only see the seemingly lifeless body of her best friend and boyfriend.

Kim reached out to touch his cheek again, before a hand suddenly grabbed hers. She looked up startled at Shego, who looked at her grimly. "No, Kim…" Shego shook her head. Her voice trembled with emotion. "Don't touch him… We've got to do this right, especially since it's Ron…"

"Right…" Kim echoed distractedly.

"Du!" Shego yelled out to the surroundings. "I know you can hear me! Get me a doctor and a MEDEVAC, now!"

"Already on its way," Agent Du's voice came through the PA. "How's he looking?"

Shego flung her hands up in frustration. "Shut up, let me work…" she shouted loudly, trying to stop her own voice from cracking with emotion. Sliding to her knees, Shego looked directly at a tearful Kim. "Look at me, Kim…" Shego spoke slowly, trying to keep her voice from cracking. "We're going to do this right… But I need your help…"

Numbly, Kim could only nod her head.

"Right…" Shego shut her eyes as she tried to remember her first aid training. "First, breathing…" She leaned over his face and listened to the faint sounds of shallow breathing. "He's still with us… Thank god." Shego declared elatedly. "Pulse, very faint… Now to check for neck injuries…"

She reached up to gently hold Ron's head before she realized that her own fingers were shaking uncontrollably. "Damn," she cursed quietly. Biting down hard on her tongue, she felt the pain wash over her mind and helped her ignore the growing sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.

"I'll do it…" Kim offered as she slid around Shego and gently raised Ron's head. She winced as her injured wrist protested the slow, careful movements, but forced her wrist to work with her, turning Ron's head slowly from side to side, feeling for any dislocated vertebrae. Shego held her breath as she watched Kim work. To her relief, Kim shook her head, indicating that she didn't feel anything out of place.

"Good…" Shego finally exhaled. "Now, we got to get him out of here… Hold his head and neck tight and try to keep his back immobile while I cut through the rebar …" Slowly, she used one hand to roll Ron slightly onto his side, before sliding her other hand beneath his body, feeling for the piece of steel protruding out his back. Her fingers brushed against the ridged steel, and she gritted her teeth as she nodded in affirmation at Kim. "Hold still still… I'm going to cut him loose…"

Sweat dripped down Shego's brow as she did her best to focus her plasma power right down to the tips of her finger. She needed just the precise amount of power to burn through the steel bar without injuring Ron further. After a long moment of concentration, she finally managed to focus her power and easily severed the steel bar. Kim let out a gasp of pain as Ron's weight suddenly shifted, putting a heavy strain on her wrist. Shego reacted quickly, reaching out to help the red-head hold Ron upright.

Slowly, Kim and Shego moved Ron's body to the ground, trying their best not to make any sudden movements. As they gently laid Ron down on floor, Kim reached to grab the steel rebar and pull it out of his stomach, but Shego quickly swatted her hand away.

"No… He'll bleed even more, and we don't have anything to stop the bleeding…" Shego said softly as she shook her head.

"But… But… What do we do now?" Kim cried out helplessly.

"There's nothing more we can do now," Shego hated the words she was going to say next. "We can only wait."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Alright, finally one update in three months. Hope it was worth it. I just spent six hours today trying to get this out, not to mention how long my beta took in the weeks before. In fact, I think I daresay we just worked close to 48 straight hours on this thing. Thank god for different time zones, huh? But we thrashed this out anyway.

This chapter pretty much speaks for itself, loads of action, explosions, gunfire and even a giant mech. I mean, what more can you ask for? Oh yes, two very hot babes kicking ass. Okay, should not keep this too long, I'm overdue for some sleep. Somehow though, I still don't feel too good about this chapter... Hmm...


	19. Chapter 19

Angst, angst, angst, angst!

* * *

Listlessly slumped on the faded lime green suede couch in the hospital waiting room, Shego carelessly thumbed the remote control through the channels.

"… _and now the latest top hit from Briti-…" _

"…_-ave a bad hair day again with, Gro-Fast, the la-…"_

"…_-he snowstorm will continue eastwards into Nebraska and Kansas. The snow accumulations were thankfully much lower than expected at three inches, however…."_

Shego paused for a moment as she numbly gazed at the map which showed a cold front expanding southwards and various satellite pictures showed a swirl of clouds sweeping inland from the Pacific. It was perhaps the only neutral and unassuming channel she could find at 10:15 P.M. on a Saturday evening. After all, the History Channel special on heroes, past and present, had almost caused her to chuck the remote at the screen.

"_Well, Eileen, I hope this system won't cause any problems for the AAA state football championships."_ the sports anchorman called out to the weatherwoman as a wide view of the news stage took in both the two anchormen, the weatherwoman, and the sports anchor.

"_It shouldn't, Tim, but their trip back might be a little bit white and blustery!"_ The weatherwoman commented in her bubbly tone as the view switched to the sports anchor.

Tim chuckled with the rest of the news crew, then turned to the camera in front of him, speaking in a surprisingly excited tone,_ "In local sports news, the AAA state championship game is tomorrow night at 6:00pm in Grand Junction, and it's a double shocker as the Middleton Mad Dogs, last year's fifth place finishers go against the Lowerton Weasels, who lost the triple-A championships last year by just a field goal!"_

Shego's hand began to tighten around the remote as the sports anchor began regaling the viewers with stats on the Lowerton Weasels and Middleton Mad Dogs. She wanted to change the channel, yet found herself unable to as the man's good natured voice enthused about the drastic change from last year, _"In fact, the driving force behind their sudden improvement seems to have been Ron Stoppable_,_ sidekick and boyfriend of Team Possible's leader, Kim Possible."_

Behind the sports anchor, a scene showed Ron running up field and dodging tackle after tackle, juxtaposed against an image of Kim in her cheerleader outfit. The scene briefly switched to a not-so recent footage of Team Possible in action against Duff Killigan: Ron was busy dodging exploding golf balls, before Kim managed to successfully sneak up on the megalomaniacal golfer.

The sportscaster continued in his enthusiastic tone,"Guess that's his training secret. Unfortunately,_ Coach Barkin has not placed Stoppable on the roster for tomorrow… Unofficial sources have confirmed that Stoppable has come down with a severe bug, and has him down sick for the next several days. What this will mean for the Mad Dogs has yet to be __determined, but after owing much of their shocking __reemergence in Colorado state high school football to Stoppable, this could be the end of the line for the__ Mad Dogs…_"

"_They've sure improved with the help of the world saving sidekick, Tim!"_ the head anchorman added in an aside, earning a heartfelt nod from the sportscaster, _"But I thought his name was John Fallible, not Ron Stoppable…"_

"_Er, right…"_ the sportscaster said in an uncomfortable tone. He coughed softly as he tried to slip in the not-too-subtle correction, "_That's right, John Fallible… I'm sorry…"_

The mint-hued woman squeezed her eyes tight as her face screwed up in pain. "No, you stupid idiots! His name is Ron Stoppable, damn you! Why can't you retards remember his name?" her tone quickly rose; rage clouding the annoyance she felt at the idiot behind the anchor desk. "His name is Ron Stoppable, you useless pieces of sh-…"

She jumped as a pair of hands wrapped around her hand. Recoiling in surprise, she looked up at a pair of blue eyes staring at her with deep concern.

"Sheila," Dr. Anne Possible reprimanded her softly. "Your hand… You're bleeding."

Shego looked down at her left hand which was holding the remote control. Unknown to her, in her outburst, the fragile cheap plastic had been crushed in her hand and the sharp little shards had dug beneath her skin. Slow, red tendrils of blood oozed down her hand and dripped onto the green suede couch. As she looked on numbly, her tired mind finally caught up with her and she finally registered the pain shooting from her hand.

"Oh," she muttered softly as she slowly moved her hand over the coffee table. Mechanically, she let go of the crumpled, bloodied pieces of plastic before idly staring at her bleeding hand.

"Here," Anne pressed firmly against her wrist and held it above Shego's shoulder to slow the bleeding. "C'mon, Sheila, let's get you fixed up first."

Sullenly, Shego followed the matronly red-head as she led the way towards the examination rooms. Shego tore her eyes away from the bobbing strands of red hair and instead chose to stare blankly at the ground. As Anne held the door open for her, Shego looked blankly at her with confusion in her eyes. "Sheila?" Anne called softly and gestured towards the bed. Unyieldingly, the mint hued former thief started, before walking in to sit on the bed as ordered.

Anne rummaged around the cabinets for a stack of gauze and a pair of tweezers. "This might hurt a bit," Anne warned as she slowly picked out the smaller pieces of plastic embedded in Shego's palm. The green-toned woman's face barely flinched as Anne worked away methodically, digging beneath the skin to remove the plastic splinters. She barely let out a hiss of pain as Anne swabbed the cuts with alcohol, the liquid stinging after hitting an open, raw nerve.

Anne looked closely at the wounds, deciding if she would need to pull out a needle and thread to sew up the wounds on Shego's hands. She decided against it as she watched Shego's accelerating healing powers start to knit the flesh together. "You're going to make your hands ugly if you do things like this," Anne commented after a strained silence as she bandaged Shego's hand.

"I don't care," Shego mumbled. "I've got ugly hands anyway."

"How…"

"Burnt myself," Shego offered blithely.

"Hmm…" Anne ran her fingers over the back of Shego's hands that had faint, almost invisible scars. After a moment, she sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Sheila, you know… You really should go home…"

Shego stared silently at the door of the examination room, before tilting her head back and looking at the ceiling. "I'm fine…"

"Sheila," Anne spoke in a tired, yet still motherly voice. "You've been up for over thirty-two hours. You're tired, and forgive me for saying this, but you certainly look like something the cat dragged in."

"I'm fine…" Shego insisted. She flinched when she suddenly felt a prick on her arm, and was startled to see a small syringe sticking out of her upper arm. "Wha-…"

"Don't worry, it's just a small sedative to help you relax," Anne explained as she pulled out the syringe and threw it into the plastic biohazard bin next to the room's sink. "With your metabolism, it should give you more than enough time to get home, but it will relax you some…"

Anne sighed as Shego's face screwed up and an almost betrayed look crossed her features. "Sheila… That should tell you just how much you need rest. You were so distracted that you didn't realized I had that syringe in my hand. You need to go home and get some rest."

"I'm not Kim, so I don't have to listen to you…" Shego growled accusingly as she hopped off the bed and strode towards the door.

"Sheila," Anne caught herself from saying anything that she didn't mean. Anger would do neither of them any good right now. "Sorry, Sheila, I know I can't make you go home like I made Kim leave, but one thing I can do is to call security."

Shego stiffened and glared back at her. Anne shook her head, "I won't, Sheila… But please, how long are you planning to stay? Until Ron wakes up?"

The mention of his name made her a chill run down her spine. Stiffly, she rested her hand on the steel door handle, before slowly resting her head against the door itself. "If I have to…" she answered in a whisper.

"What if he doesn't wake up?"

It was an emotionless tone, one that Anne would have used when discussing the most trivial of all matters as though discussing yesterday's dinner. The implications and impact of the tone, however, was not lost on Shego. The fear slowly crawled up her body before wrapping itself in a vice-like grip around her throat, almost choking her. Whirling around in anger, Shego hissed viciously at Anne. "Don't you dare say that! Don't you fucking dare…"

"I dare," Anne raised her voice to match Shego's. She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose for a moment. "I'm a doctor, Sheila, so I have to _try_ to be objective and keep in mind the worst case scenario. It is the only way of making sure that the worse doesn't happen. But I'm also the mother of his best friend who just happens to be his girlfriend, and I've watched him grow up. Honestly, sometimes I think of myself as his second mother, so believe me when I say this: I am a lot more scared than you when I look at him, because I know _exactly_ what he went through."

Shego glared angrily at the woman, barely restraining her fury. She opened her mouth to unleash an angry torrent of curses at Anne, but the neurosurgeon's honesty caught her off guard, and she snapped her mouth closed.

"I shouldn't have, but I was on duty…" She continued in her calm tone, before her detached voice broke, dropping to just above a whisper. "I had to drill a hole in his head to relieve the pressure due to the trauma and swelling of his brain. Thirteen hours, Sheila… Thirteen hours, that's how long it took, five pints of blood and two resuscitations. He has eight cracked ribs; any one of them could have broken and punctured his lungs… Or pierced his aorta…"

She paused briefly but forced herself to remain strong, "Bone marrow could've broken loose cause cardiac arrest, or maybe worse, gone into the brain and caused an aneurysm… Anything like that could have ended his life, even with us right in there working on him. And we still don't know the extent of his spinal injuries, if any… That'll have to wait 'til his MRI and CT scans tomorrow, if his body's ready for them…"

The blue-eyed doctor leaned back in her chair and drew in a long breath. "That's the truth, Sheila. I won't mince words or tell you that Ron's going to be alright. But he's okay now, we've stabilized him for now. And he'll have a good chance of survival if he makes it through the night. But that's just one of many problems…" Anne looked directly at Shego's eyes. "And I'm not sure how to fix the others."

"I'll be fine," Shego replied softly as she turned her face away.

"Go home… Please, Sheila," Anne urged. "There's nothing more you can do for him here."

"I… I can't…"

"No one can blame you," Anne replied soothingly. She got up from her seat and gently placed both hands on Shego's shoulders. "We all understand, and it wouldn't mean that you cared less for him if you went home and got some sleep."

"Forget it," Shego shrugged her shoulders rudely, causing Anne's hands to fall to her side. "I just can't, okay? Just… leave me alone…"

"I understand how you feel, Sheila," Anne spoke softly. "How could I not? My daughter loves him as much as you too."

"I…" The protest died on her lips as she turned around to look at Anne with wide, tearful eyes. "I…"

"Shh… Sheila, it's okay…" Anne comforted her by wrapping her arms around the shaking woman. "You don't have to say it. We all know…"

Shego buried her face into Anne's neck, pulling the white fabric of Anne's lab coat in her hands. "I…" Shego choked between soft sobs. "I… Failed… It's my fault…"

"How can you say tha-…" Anne began, but Shego's strident, pained voice stopped her.

"It's my fault!" Shego insisted between tears, as she pressed herself tightly against Anne. "I… If he never… If he never met me, he wouldn't have run into her… And he wouldn't have gotten into this mess of mine…"

"Just like it's your fault that you saved my little girl, and just like it's your fault that Ron's been improving at school and just like it's your fault that you've helped Kim get over her jealousy streak?" Anne asked quietly. When Shego couldn't find the words, Anne pressed on as gently as she could, "I'm sorry, Sheila, but you can't blame yourself for only the bad things that can happen. You've done good things too, since you moved in with Ron, and…"

"It's not worth it," Shego shot back angrily as she pulled away and faced the wall, with her back towards Anne. "I should have stayed a villain… Live in a cave… Try to take over the world and that nonsense… Then… Then… Ron wouldn't have gotten hurt like this…"

"Then what?" Anne asked. "Please… Sheila, help me understand here… What makes you think that you deserve all the blame?"

"Because…" Shego said in a whisper, pausing for a moment. She finally turned around to look at Anne, her eyes sparkling with shimmering tears. "Because… I… It's my fault… It just is, okay? Miss A was my problem and now I got Kim and Ron all caught up in my mess…"

She shook her head and took a deep breath, blinking the tears away and not seeming to care that a stray tear ran down the side of her cheek. Shego bit her lip as she continued, "I can't save anyone! I can't even save him from one stupid fight! I'm so damned useless that I can't save the people I love! Sam, Ron… Dammit, useless…"

"No, Sheila…" Anne said, pulling the now unresisting woman close to her, "You saved Kim before, you saved my little girl… And you did your best for Ron…"

"If I did my best for him, why is Ron still in there?" Shego challenged her bitterly. "Is that what my best is? Not being able to do anything to save him, just like I couldn't save Sam when she needed me? Is that my best, Anne?"

"Sheila!" Anne said sternly. The doctor took a deep breath before searching for the right commanding tone, "Hold it together, _Shego_!" The use of her name was not lost on Shego.

"You did an excellent job on the field today, and don't let anyone tell you differently. You were calm and collected under pressure when you administered first aid and cut Ron free from the rebar. You did the right thing under the circumstances." Anne took a deep breath before toning down to a softer matronly level. "And now I need you to continue to do the right thing…"

"I…" Shego started, then looked down at the floor, "I want to believe you, Anne, bu-…"

"Sheila," Anne interrupted softly, "Kim's blaming herself as much as you are…"

"But it's not her fault!" Shego instantly rebutted. "It's…"

"Exactly, Sheila…" Anne interrupted firmly, "It's not her fault. Just like it's not _your _fault!"

"But…" Shego protested weakly, "She didn't do anything…"

"Neither did you, Sheila," Anne pushed, ignoring Shego's reply, "But I know one thing above all else; Kim needs someone right now. Someone who can understand how she feels and what she's going through." Looking at Shego, she placed a firm hand on her shoulder, "Just like how you need someone to understand what you're feeling. And it sounds to me like you two are just what the other needs."

Shego felt a small growl at the back of her throat. "What about Ron?"

"Don't get so caught up in what you should have done that you forget what you need to do," Anne interrupted gently, letting the younger woman go and giving her a gentle push. "There's nothing more you can do for him."

Shego shook her head in defeat and turned around to open her door. "Anne…"

"Yes?"

"May I see him before I go?"

"Of course," Anne nodded her head with a smile. "I'm sure Ron would like that."

"And… Anne," Shego's voice faltered a bit. "Just… Just make sure he gets better, okay? I don't know what Kimmie or I will do without him…"

"I know… I don't know what _any_ of us would do without him."

Anne sank back into the exam room chair as she cast her eyes skywards. She closed her eyes and rested her tired neck against the room's countertop, feeling the tension ease from her shoulders. It had been a long shift, ever since she got that call from her hysterical daughter. A mother's worst nightmare…

"Anne?" A voice called to her, and Anne heard someone sit down in the chair next to hers.

"Yes, Jean?" Anne opened her eyes and looked at Ron's mother with a weary smile on her face.

"Has Sheila gone home?" Jean asked in a wavering voice.

"Yes," Anne replied reassuringly as she placed a hand on Jean's clasped hands. "She just left a few minutes ago. She was going to say goodbye to Ron before she went back and I was just resting for a moment before looking for you."

"Thank heavens," Jean whispered as she lowered her head for a moment.

"She'll be fine," Anne comforted her, "She's a strong woman."

"She… She doesn't want to see me…" Jean replied helplessly. She wrung her fingers as she spoke. "Every time I try to talk to her, she avoids me… And tries to hide from me… She wouldn't give me a ch-…"

"She's scared of you," Anne explained.

"I… I know it's not her fault for what happened to my baby," Jean sighed out loud. She raised her left hand and rubbed her already reddened eyes. "She's a good person, and she would have never allowed something like that to happen if she could help it. She already did her best to take care of our children…"

"I know," Anne wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders while she spoke knowingly. "But she's scared too. She's been hurt before even though it wasn't her fault. Her family, and more…" She let the words hang there in the air.

"I just want her to understand that… That I don't blame her for anything at all…" Jean sighed. "She's suffered enough, we all have…"

"She'll come around," Anne replied softly. "Someday she'll realize how much we all love her."

* * *

Shego stepped into the sterile room and cast her eyes over the large beeping machines that stood beside him. She flinched when her eyes came to rest on Ron's bruised and swollen face with a tube firmly stuck down his throat through swathes of bandages.

"Ron…" A small choke escaped from her lips. Summoning her courage, she drew a chair and sat down next to the young blond's bed. She looked at his right hand which had an IV drip sticking out just ahead of the wrist. Slowly she traced the contusions and ugly purplish marks on his forearms with her fingers.

She knew what every mark meant; long years of fighting and she had long since learned to recognize the bruises. She could almost see it in her mind: Ron raised his right arm to shield from the roundhouse kick that left a wide, ugly purple and black on the outside of his forearm. There was torn skin on his elbow where she knew concrete had been imbedded where he had obviously missed Miss ANThropy and struck the wall. His knuckles were skinned and bloody; he must have landed a few good blows on her in exchange.

She trailed her eyes up to his cute face that was swathed in bandages. His nose was swollen from where it had recently been reset. His left eye also showed signs of swelling, and there was evidence of sutures where they had been forced to cut the eye open to drain the blood. She knew that his ocular orbit had cracked under a straight right fist to the eye, but the bone had held, and his eye, thankfully, had been relatively undamaged. There were other injuries, to his…

Shego shut her eyes to try and blank out the visions in her head. She slowly eased her hand under his and squeezed his limp fingers. "Ron, I…" she started softly. She kept her eyes focused on his hand, unable to bring herself to look back at his injured face. "I… It's hard for me to talk like this, Ron…"

Shego let out a small laugh as she quickly wiped away the few stray tears that escaped her vice like control with her other hand. Sniffling a little, she continued, "You were the one always doing all the talking for both of us. You remember that? And… And now, I have to pick up the slack… Now, I…" Shego sighed as she slowly traced the outline of his hand with her fingers.

"Ron," she sighed with a whisper. "I've never said this to you… But thank you, Ron, for all the things that you've done for me. God, I must sound like such a wimp." Shego quickly drew back her hand to push her palms into her eyes, hoping to stem the tide of tears she knew threatened.

She took a series of deep breaths and tried to compose herself, wiping at once again dry eyes. "I mean, what must you think of me now? I'm crying and weeping, while you're the one who's actually hurt? You must be wondering, what happened to that tough gal Shego who can take out an entire army of henchmen without breaking a nail."

Shego sighed as she clasped Ron's hand with both of hers. "Ron… You know what? I was actually looking forward to going to the carnival with you next weekend. In fact, this morning… Yesterday morning… I had a stupid dream about it…"

She allowed herself a little smile as she tilted her head a little to the side. "It's a silly dream… It's just that you and I were wandering around just as the carnival was about to close, and then we had time for one last ride, and I wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel because from up there all my problems always seem so small…"

Shego raised Ron's right hand and placed it against her cheek. She kissed his palm softly and squeezed her eyes as the helplessness flashed through her being like wildfire on a dry prairie, "You… You told me I was beautiful…" Shego whispered. "And then… Up there… In the night sky, you kissed me and there were fireworks in the background… And I… I _believed_ you…"

"Ron…" she shook her head slowly. "I want to be beautiful for you… But I just can't… I got you caught up with all my bullshit, and if not for me, you wouldn't be enemies with that bitch, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. Ron, you're scaring the hell out of me… I remember you looking like that, and… Ron, I don't ever want to lose you."

"So, whatever you do, come back, Ron…" Shego pleaded. "Come back, I'll do anything you want; make Steve give you less homework, make you breakfast in bed, buy you that atrocious Zombie whatever videogame… I'd even have your babies if I could… That is if Kim wouldn't mind." Shego allowed herself a soft, fragile chuckle at her own joke, before sighing heavily into the silence. "Just come back to us. Kim's a wreck without you now. She's… You have to see her… She was hysterical on the way here… Hell, it took her mom, three nurses and a ten milliliter dose of tranquilizer to settle her down."

Shego gave Ron's palm another kiss. "I beg you, Ron," she begged again. "Come back to us, and I promise I'll do anything you want me to. Anything."

Slowly, she got up from her seat. Taking another look at his face, Shego tried to imagine the gentle face beneath with the cute freckles. Closing her eyes, and as gently as she could, she laid a kiss on his cheek. Then she turned around and wiped her eyes before anyone could see. Walking to the doorway, she turned, giving him one last forlorn look, she turned off the lights before exiting the room, shutting the door softly behind her.

As her footsteps died down the corridor, there was a rustling in the wind as the window curtains swayed gently. It had seemed almost as though the night detached a part of itself, and a wispy shadow glided silently over to the sleeping teenager. The silhouette of an arm caressed Ron's face gently.

A soft soprano murmur trickling out from the darkness, "Not yet, but soon…" The dark arm pulled back into the shadowy form, and the shadow melded back to the darkness from which it came. And then there was silence, broken only by the low beeping of the room's life sign monitors. Then, in the whispers of an afterthought that was as fleeting as the wind, "Soon, it will be time to go…"

* * *

She had never felt more haunted that night. Lying on her bed with the sheets tossed carelessly on the floor, she stared at the shadows flickering on the ceiling. She felt hot and sticky; she pulled a lock of raven hair that was plastered across her forehead back behind her ear, a whining growl of frustration escaping her lips. She shut her eyes again, willing herself to sleep.

Shego sat up quickly as she plucked pillow and threw it across the room in frustration. It landed on the opposite wall with a soft thump, and she clutched her face in her hands. The deathly silence of the room haunted her.

Taking deep breaths, she tried to get her bearings. She was at Ron's place. Sleeping in the guestroom. _My room_… a distant part of her argued, unsuccessfully against her despair. His parents' bedroom is downstairs, directly left of the stairwell, Hana's right next to it… Ron's room is the other end from her's… From the guestroom.

_No one's home, right now._ She reminded herself over and over again. The Stoppables were all at the hospital. The darkness never seemed so encroaching.

Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, she pushed herself off the bed and trod to the door, only stopping to bend over and scoop up her discarded pillow. Hugging it tightly under her arm, she exited her bedroom, trying to ignore the strong, almost magnetic draw that emanated from Ron's bedroom.

She stopped short, however, when she heard a low, almost inaudible hitch of breath from Ron's over, she saw the ghostly blue-white glow of the Stoppable's back yard's light seeping through the cracked bedroom door. She was instantly filled with outrage; someone had dared break into the house and invade the sanctity of Ron's room.

As she crept closer, hoping to sneak up on the intruder, she heard a soft whimper crying, "Ron…"

The voice was familiar, and the heart wrenching cry drew tears to her eyes. As silently as she could, she crept up to the doorway, gently pushing the doorway open. She was greeted with the sight of a familiar red-head curled up in a fetal position on Ron's bed. She wore only a nightshirt and a pair of light sweatpants, holding her Pandaroo and Ron's pillow tightly against her, shivering slightly in the cool air of the house.

"Kim…" she whispered as tears started to overwhelm her. Shego's body moved on its own accord, in the only way it knew how to numb the all too familiar pain threatening to tear her mind apart. She settled her pillow just above Kim's fitfully sleeping form and crawled next to Kim. She lay on her side, gently wrapping her arms around the young woman.

Kim suddenly turned her head towards Shego, her tear-stained eyes opening as she peered at the shape lying behind her. "R-Ron?" she pleaded in a mournful voice.

"Sorry, Kim," Shego squeezed Kim a little tighter. "It's only me."

Kim's lip quivered for a moment, before she squeezed her eyes shut and turned over, abandoning Ron's pillow to reach around Shego's chest and hug herself close to the mint-hued woman's warmth, squishing her Cuddlebuddy between their bodies. "I… I'm…"

Kim tried to control her breathing, but it quickly became ragged, before finally she buried her face in Shego's bosom, body wracking sobs shaking both women as she cried. "Hush…" Shego cooed softly, not knowing what else to say. She briefly searched her mind for something, anything, but it all seemed hollow and dry to her. She reached up and stroked Kim's hair comfortingly, the only thing else she could think that would help, holding the teenage heroine as close as she could.

"Hush, Kimmie… Just let it out…" her voice faltering as she felt her own agony, her tears joining Kim's as she allowed herself to cry.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Okay, the aftermath to the GJ invasion. This chapter's a _lot_ shorter; I think it's a good time to slow things down for a bit before picking it up again. After all, everyone's got to catch their breath, digest the action from the previous chapter, and just let things develop slowly.

Oh yeah, in case if anyone didn't realize, this was sort of to be the second last chapter, before I start on a new book. Chapter 20 is supposed to be the epilogue, and then a whole new saga begins. I'm sorta turning this into a trilogy, and yup, we're two-thirds of the way through.


	20. Chapter 20

Something warm moved and pressed itself against her body. The stirring caused Shego to open her sleepy eyes and rub them. Adding to the discomfort of having just woken up were her damp pillow and shirt. She blinked and tried to roll away, but realized that someone had wrapped their arms around her waist and buried their face into her shirt. Rubbing her tired eyes again, she glanced downwards and saw a messy mop of red-hair snuggling even closer to her body.

"Kimmie…" the name escaped Shego's lips softly, barely loud enough to be called a whisper. A void started opening inside her as recollections from the prior night flooded into her consciousness, the ache slithering its way from her mind to deep within her heart. Shego reached up and rubbed her eyes once again as tears threatened to spill forth.

"I'm sorry…" Shego whispered. Wrapping both arms around the younger girl, Shego squeezed her and pressed her face against Kim's hair, taking in the comforting scent of her shampoo. "Kimmie, I'm so, so sorry…" she whispered again as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the gnawing pain inside her heart.

She felt Kim stir in her arms and reluctantly pulled away. Deciding not to disturb the younger girl's sleep any longer, Shego carefully pried Kim's arms from around her waist. As soon as she got free, Shego slid away to sit on the edge.

Feeling the sudden loss of warmth, Kim started writhing in her sleep, her face contorted in anguish. Shego's face contorted in sympathetic pain as Kim's arms reached out futilely for something to hold on to. "No, dun go…" she mumbled in her near wakeful state, flailing about in a manner sickeningly familiar to Shego. The older woman winced at the emptiness in Kim's plaintive voice, wanting nothing more than to lay back down and embrace her agonized friend, but knew she had force herself to get up.

Looking around, Shego spied one of Ron's old jerseys and picked it up, trusting it into one of Kim's hands. The red-head immediately pulled it close to her chest, nuzzling her face into the numbers on the back. The scent of her boyfriend seemed to calm her down a great deal, though her free hand did reach out as if still searching. The questing hand finally grabbed onto Shego's pillow and pulling it close, nuzzling both the pillow and the shirt much like she had the former thief's bosom earlier.

Shego watched the younger girl with a sad grimace, sighing lightly. Shaking her head, she softly murmured to the girl, her voice almost breaking, "I'm sorry, Kim…" She hesitated for a moment before leaning over to brush her lips gently against Kim's cheek. "I should wake you, but… It hurts less when you're asleep"…"

As silently as possible, Shego slipped out of Ron's bedroom and tiptoed her way down to the kitchen. Glancing out the front window, she noted that Mr and Mrs Stoppable had yet to return, and had not even stopped in the prior night. Their new Volvo was still gone, and no tracks marred the six inch deep blanket of snow in the driveway. And Hana would be at Mrs Stoppable's sister's place…

Shego sighed, turning from the living room and looking around the kitchen. She walked to the cupboard, numbly opening it to grab and open a bag of coffee. She poured some into the coffeemaker's basket and filled the water reservoir. With a defeated air, she turned the coffeemaker on before slumping heavily on one of the dining chairs. She nestled her head in her arms, drawing a breath and letting it out in a long, desolate sigh. Even though she knew that Kim was staying in Ron's room, the house felt so big and empty.

She clenched one fist at her temple and slapped her open palm against the stoutly built table, the force enough to make the tabletop buckle briefly. She relished the brief stinging that shot from her palm to her elbow. _Anything_, she thought. _Anything would be better than this feeling tearing up my guts…_

The doorbell rang jarringly through the nearly empty home, causing Shego to jump. The sound, while bringing with it the promise of a brief respite, also brought the dread fear of horrible news from the hospital, which unsettled the mint hued woman to the core.

Shego looked up at the kitchen clock. It was barely even seven A.M. Despite her ragged feelings, she dragged herself to the front door and cracked it open slightly, a blast of freezing air making her shiver despite her unnaturally high body temperature. "Yes?" she croaked, her dry throat still reeking of morning breath.

Will Du stood at the front porch, a few flakes of the light snow that fell in his coal black hair. Shego blinked twice; something seemed very wrong with the picture before her. Suddenly it dawned on Shego that she had never seen Will dressed in civilian clothing before. Gone were his Global Justice jumpsuit and dress shoes. Instead, Will was dressed in a pair of beige cargo pants and army style boots.

She continued her brief, but thorough observation, noticing through the half opened zipper of his plain, practical looking winter jacket a tee-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the United States Army, which drew a quizzical arch of an elegant eyebrow. Completing the unusual picture was the fact that he carried an olive drab duffle bag that was a common sight among men returning from the service. And those who were remobilized.

"Du…" Shego remarked with an upraised eyebrow. "I don't recall Global Justice ever having a casual Friday, though I think they'd frown on the army chic…"

"Shego, we hav'ta talk…" Will cleared his throat as he looked over his shoulder, then grimaced as he realized his accent had slipped, before continuing in a slightly more measured tone. "To talk. Could you let me in?"

"Oh…" Shego stepped aside to let Will walk into the living room. "What are you doing here?"

Will glanced briefly out the front door before shutting it. Silently, he bent down to take his boots off, then removed his jacket, hanging it on the rack next to the door. With a determined stride, he stalked purposefully over to the front window and drew the curtains closed before turning to face Shego.

"Wow… Paranoid, much, Will Douc-…?" Shego bit out sarcastically, but stopped mid-word as his actions confirmed her sarcastic comment. The mint-hued woman's eyes widened slightly as Will opened the duffle in a surprisingly fluid motion, pulling out an attaché case.

"Shego, I know you and I have not seen eye to eye," Will finally said with an apologetic grimace, opening the attaché case and activating what Shego realized was a white noise generator. "But we had better put aside our differences for this," Will took a breath, contemplating for a moment before continuing. "After all, many things have happened in the past twenty-four hours that you should be aware of."

"Right, Gemini attacked GJ HQ, I get that… It's big…"

"No, that was done forty-two hours and thirty seven minutes ago… This is bigger than that, much bigger…" Will corrected her in his best professional tone. "One thing is that Dr Director is still missing. We have seen no sign of her and Gemini has given no indication that he has captured her. We have no idea what has happened to her so far, and even after having dozens of agents, as well as Wade and Rufus, going through the security feeds, we have found no trace of her. She was in the base for one moment, and when the attack happened, she simply disappeared. Along with several vehicles, some of which have recently been heavily modified…"

"Betts… Gone?" Shego slumped onto the couch as she looked at Du in surprise. "Fuck the materiel; But Betts, just… Gone? Did you check her place? Anything?"

"While I would like to forget about the materiel, I should let you know that some of it was modified for GJ by Edward Lipsky… If an escaping WWEE goon or escaped convict stole the modified vehicles, they could cause an incredible amount of damage…" he sighed, nodding as Shego nodded her understanding. "Exactly… As for Dr. Director? Not a single trace of her, Shego" Will said evenly, looking her squarely in the eyes. "It is possible that she was somewhere in Section 12 where the tunnel collapsed…"

"Don't, Du," Shego snapped, "I don't need any more news like that…"

"I hope to Hell that's not the case, either, however… We _must_ keep ourselves open to that possibility if we want to find her…" Will pressed with forceful sincerity, causing Shego to raise an elegant eyebrow in surprise. Will paused for a moment, waiting to continue until Shego nodded in understanding, "However, that and the disappearance of Dr. Director is the least of our concerns right now."

"Let me guess," Shego muttered sarcastically, "This is where the other shoe drops, isn't it?"

"Yes," Will answered simply, "Her superiors from the United Nations Security Council are furious that an attack like that has been carried out on GJ HQ, and it doesn't look good for Dr. Director that she isn't around to answer their questions. To further exacerbate things, the attacker is her own brother, who somehow managed to get the necessary codes to…"

"That's bullshit!" Shego raised her voice angrily. "Are they suggesting that Betts was the one who let Gemini attack the GJ HQ?"

"At least that's what the officer debriefing me was trying to insinuate, or asking me to imply…" Will replied grimly. "I think they're trying to find dirt on her, any of her own wrongdoings, missing paper clips or anything of that sort to implicate her and make her the fall guy for this attack. A target of convenience, if you will…" Will sighed, shaking his head, "Shego, we _know_ that Gemini has to have had inside help! And it doesn't look good for Dr. Director that she isn't around to defend herself against these allegations."

Shego gritted her teeth as she contemplated the disappearance of her friend. "Dammit, Du," she growled before thumping her hand on the couch. "So what happens next?"

"The UNSC decided that the best course of action, considering the enormity of the situation, is for Dr. Director to be suspended until this incident has been thoroughly investigated."

Shego swore vehemently for a good minute, reaching for the most obscure obscenities she could think of before managing to calm herself down. "Suspended?" Shego echoed in disbelief. "That's ridiculous! Then who is going to run GJ? You?"

"No..." Will shook his head. "As you can see, I'm in civvies. Well, close to 'em, anyway." He chuckled and scratched the back of his head for a moment, before sighing and continuing. "I've been suspended pending a full investigation as well…"

Shego fell silent as she looked at Du. "Why?"

"I'm not _entirely_ sure," Du explained. "Officially it is because I allowed GJ HQ to almost be taken over on my watch. Unofficially, I think it's a combination of my close work relationship with Dr. Driector and…" He reached into his backpack and pulled out a manila folder. "Because of this…"

"What is it?" Shego took the file gingerly and opened it to reveal official looking document with a United Nations cover page.

"It is something that Dr. Director has been working on for months. It is your unconditional pardon, and full record expunging of your felony records…" Will began, noting the shocked look on Shego's face. "Dr. Director had these papers drawn up months ago, not long after you rescued Kim. Signed by various heads of state, and endorsed by the UNSC, it means that you are a free woman."

"Free woman?" Shego's voice trembled with disbelief. She hadn't been a free woman since… "I have some pretty harsh felonies…"

"Your record as a mercenary in the employ of a mad scientist still stands, as well as a few assault charges. You're now listed as a former bodyguard and petty thief in the employ of Dr. Drakken."

"Um, petty thief? I stol-…" Shego asked incredulously.

"Yes. Your big felony thefts have either been recovered, or destroyed, and since pretty much all of the destroyed thefts were black projects…" Will shrugged slightly, a smirk marring his professional mask. "Also, with you being classified as a body guard, and the fact that you've never killed or seriously injured anyone other than Ms. Possible, who also signed the documents asking for your pardon, the assault charges were mostly dropped, though a few were kept on your record for consistency's sake. You also helped, and have been listed in the GJ database as a permanent member of, Team Possible, as well as a teacher that has already achieved her tenure. Congratulations on that by the way."

"Thanks," Shego replied in a dry tone, rolling her eyes slightly.

"Well," Will smirked at her, "That was, essentially, your community service. And based on that, those crimes are, at worst, misdemeanor charges. Now you have a chance to walk freely, vote, rely on your civil rights and even own a firearm if worst comes to worst… And you can do anything _legal_ that you want without Team Possible babysitting you…"

"But… How?" Shego stammered as she looked at the official seals and signatures. "Why?"

"How?" Will shrugged. "Kim Possible isn't the only one with favors. And Dr. Director must have gone through a lot of favors to get these drawn up for you. As for the why, let me put it this way: before the attack on GJ HQ two nights ago, I did not believe you deserved a full pardon, not until you had paid for your crimes. I honestly didn't know as much about your record as I just mentioned to you, to be honest."

He chuckled ruefully as he continued, "Even GJ's second in command wasn't privy to everything, apparently… But that aside, after what you did Saturday morning in rescuing one of the only organizations that keep the world safe from megalomaniacs? I feel that it is my duty… No, my _honor_ to hand these papers to you."

"Oh… Wow…" Was all Shego could say as she scanned the documents again. Yes, her name was there, and the dates, and she was completely absolved of felonies, but… "What did you mean when you say that you were suspended because of these papers?"

Will gave Shego a long, hard look, before speaking. "Dr. Director wanted to wait until you did a more… Public world-saving deed. She had planned on presenting these letters to you officially so the public wouldn't crucify you for walking down the street. However, things have changed so rapidly that I don't believe you'd be safe without these papers…"

"What do you mean, Will?" Shego asked tensely.

"After Dr. Director was suspended, Global Justice needed a new leader at the helm," Will responded quietly. "And because it normally takes years to train a candidate, the UNSC had no choice but to bring in GJ's previous leader, Director Alan Grant."

"He was the leader during my stint at GJ, wasn't he?" Shego asked.

"Yes, but y'were still green, which's why ya didn' know 'im all that well," Will replied, as anger broke into his normally cool composure. Taking a deep breath, he slipped mostly back into his restrained tone, "Grant and Dr. Director never saw eye t'eye. Dr. Director was more of a believer in villain reform. She believed in giving people a second chance." He paused as the palest of grins appeared on Shego's face, and smiled himself, coughing subtly. "Actually, it's not that hard to see why she believed that… Especially when y'consider that her brother and her best friend were both villains." Will looked directly at Shego as he said his last sentence, nodding when the import of the comment struck home.

Shego coughed nervously and looked away, a reddish hue burning her cheeks. "Anyway, more about this guy?" Shego tried to ignore his gaze.

"Grant's methods, to say the least, were questionable. He believed more in shootin' first and askin' questions later," Will explained. "While his methods may've been crudely effective in preventing the villains from taking over the world, he drove the villains deeper underground, and drew out the true psychopaths, the ones that made gigaton bombs, multi-terawatt gamma lasers, that kinna thing… As well as leaving behind a large amount of collateral damage which the UNSC could no longer tolerate. Samantha Sites, and those that died in the shop with her, were the last straw…"

A hiccup got stuck in her throat as Shego opened her eyes wide. "Sam? What does she have to do with him…"

"Grant…" Will paused, sighing as he looked away from Shego. "Keep in mind, this is hearsay, but… He was fully informed of the situation, and gave the approval the NSA wanted to take out the target with their pet black-ops sniper…" Will explained as calmly as possible. He looked at Shego before softly saying, "I'm sorry, Shego, I truly am… Grant was, somehow, involved in whatever it was that NSA wanted hidden, but we have no proof of it…"

"Dammit," Shego gritted her teeth as tears welled up in her eyes. The memory, as fresh as the day it happened, sprang to the forefront of her mind, forcing her to grab the couch to support herself on suddenly unsteady knees. "Dammit…"

Will fell silent for a moment, giving Shego time to absorb this new revelation, to let the old wounds tear open and bleed, he hoped, a little cleaner. Maybe he should have kept this piece of information to himself. But regardless, she needed to know what was going to happen next. It was essential.

"Shego," Will interrupted her thoughts. "It is important that you know this. Whatever you do now, do _not_ break any laws. Don't give GJ _any_ excuse to lock you up. No matter what." Shego glanced up at Will in confusion, and he sighed heavily. "I'm not sure, but from what I gather, Grant is somehow very interested in you. I don't know why, all I know is that when he found out about this pardon, he was outraged and wanted to destroy it. But I managed to steal this out of Dr. Director's desk before Grant could do anything, as well as deliver it to the appropriate offices before Grant could strike it down. Considering the clout of those supporting your pardon, even if they wanted to keep you a villain, the UNSC would have to accept the pardon, and, well…"

"That's why he suspended you…" Shego finished the story for him. She looked at the man with renewed eyes. Gone was that ramrod-straight cockiness of his, rather his eyes belied something more. Not just the eyes of the glorified policeman she had always seen, but something more… _A soldier… Like Simon…_ She nodded in sudden understanding, and accepted the new image she had of Will, that of an older and wiser man, tempered with the knowledge that sometimes bad things just happen to good people without any rhyme or reason.

"That's why he suspended me," Will repeated solemnly. He sighed as he leaned back in his seat.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Two things…" he said as he ticked him off on his fingers. "First, I'm reporting into my handlers in the government… People who don't want Grant doing the shit he did before. Then I'm going to look for Dr. Director," Will sighed, shaking his head. "She's out there somewhere, and I believe… I know she's innocent. And when I find her, I am going to help her clear her name."

"I'll help you…"

"No, Shego," Will startled her with the firmness in his voice. "Stay here with Kim, be there for her, Ron, their families… Like I said, Grant is _very_ interested in you for some reason… _Don't_ give him any excuses to lock you up."

"Damn," Shego slumped back in her seat and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Things just kept getting worse and worse.

"Anyway, on an unrelated note," Will continued. "The attack on GJ HQ wasn't severe. We had a few casualties, but minimal. And during the attack, a few villains escaped, notably, Drakken, Dementor and Motor Ed… I know you have history with them, so I thought you'd want to know." He shrugged slightly, before adding as an afterthought, "There may have been others, as the head count was still going on as I left, but…"

"Thanks…" Shego mumbled, sounding subdued.

"I'd better leave now," Will stood up and proffered his hand. Shego eyed it hesitantly for a moment before reaching out to grasp it. As Du shook her hand, he remarked honestly, "Shego, you were an asset to Global Justice, and _are_ one to Team Possible… Saturday morning proved that beyond a doubt, and I would like to say that I was wrong, and Dr. Director was right: sometimes, people do deserve a second chance."

Biting her lower lip, Shego replied sadly, "But at what cost? I keep hurting the people around me…"

"I'm truly sorry about Ron," Will offered. "But Shego, Ron was saved because of you, not hurt because of you. Don't blame yourself for what happened to him. Blame the person who almost killed him with her own hands."

"Yeah… Fuck, you think I don't know that?" Shego growled and turned away from Will. "It's just… I should have done more… I shouldn't have left him alone…"

"Don't think too much of what should have or should not have been," Will remarked with a sigh. Looking at Shego's stoic face, he touched her shoulder and spoke, "Shego, I need to leave. But let me also say that I could not wish for better people than you or Team Possible to stand by me that night."

Shego shivered a little at his touch and kept her eyes firmly fixed on a small smudge on the carpet. It took all her strength to not cry again. Feeling Will's hand falling away to his side, Shego gave a little grunt, something just to clear her throat. She could hear Will stepping away, before he paused and walked back.

"Shego," he said softly, waiting for her to look at him and the device that looked like her attaché case. "As soon as I deactivate this, only you can reactivate it. I have a feeling you may need it. It's keyed to your genetic signature, fingerprints and plasma… I had Wade scan your case so it wouldn't raise suspicion." Shego nodded in understanding, waving Will to shut the machine off. He did so and turned smartly, walking to the front door before letting himself out. Even with her arms wrapped around herself, she felt cold and alone. That gnawing void was still there, eating her insides away slowly and making her feel sicker by the moment.

She bit her lip until she could taste blood, the pain a welcome relief to the nauseating feeling inside her. Anything just to ease some of the pain. Anything…

"Is he gone?"

Shego jumped in surprise at the raspy, harsh male voice that suddenly interrupted her thoughts. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she glanced up, trying to fix an angry scowl on her face as she turned to face the intruder. "Who the fu-…"

Her question was cut short as she looked at the bedraggled mess that had dragged himself into the kitchen. His orange prison jumpsuit was caked in a mix of mud, blood, concrete dust, grime and snow to the point of being mostly gray. His face was in even worse shape, the left side covered with a mass of contusions and bruises, his almost signature scar barely visible. He was clearly favoring his right leg more as he limped forward, while ignoring his swinging left hand that sat at a twisted angle, belying a dislocated or broken elbow. But despite all the injuries, the blue-tinted skin was a dead giveaway.

"Drakken?" Shego exploded in shock. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Shego…" he croaked hoarsely, straining his parched throat. "Need your help…"

"I'll say…" Shego remarked snidely. Despite the fact that he had cloned her and engaged in sexual relationships with the clone, and as a result, violating her in some twisted mad scientist way, she checked her anger and went into the kitchen, grabbing the first aid box from one of the cupboards. "God, Dr D… You look like Hell, what happened to you?"

Drakken shambled over to one of the chairs in the living room and gingerly sat down. Every sudden movement caused sharp pain to lance up his left arm. He winced as he settled down, doing his best not to cry out. As Shego gingerly knelt next to him, she examined the injured arm. Knowing enough about injuries from her time as both a hero and villain, she gingerly felt the tender area, testing to see if there was any further serious injury.

"Leave my arm alone!" Drakken rasped as he coughed violently, which Shego ignored, moving her gentle probing to his wrist. "Shego… I need your help."

"Sure you do, considering your elbow's dislocated, and the wrist may have broken bones" Shego growled as she got up to find something hard to brace the broken arm. "Dr. D, in case you haven't realized, we're through. I don't work for you anymore."

"I know," Drakken pleaded. "But… But… If you help me, I'll tell you why Director Grant and Lieutenant Colonel Thropy are so interested in you."

Shego stood rooted in place for several long seconds, stunned at the offer. Slowly swiveling her head to look at the blue man, she felt a low throaty growl from the back of her throat. "I remember now!" Shego started to raise her voice. "You knew that bitch of a woman! I saw a picture of you and Miss A together! Wade showed it to us!" Towering over the hunched man with her hands crooked like claws, she lit up her plasma, leaning in to catch Drakken's eyes. "Tell me! What the fuck is your relationship with that woman?"

Drakken started stuttering for a moment, holding his good hand up to shield himself from the venomous look Shego was giving him. "Tell me!" she roared again at the top of her voice. "Tell me everything you know about that woman! I am going to kill her and…"

A soft, gentle hand placing itself to Shego's shoulder restrained her. She whipped around in surprise to look at Kim, with her tousled bed head, looking sadly at Shego. Wordlessly, the younger girl leaned forward and hugged her, pressing her body tightly against Shego's. "Sheila, he's hurt…" she whispered. The quiet words and the embrace took the wind out of Shego's tirade and she let out a long sigh of frustration before leaning back slightly into the embrace.

"Kim…" Shego sighed.

"It's okay, Shego," Kim mumbled softly. "Give him a chance to explain."

"I…" Shego casted Drakken a deadly glare which caused him to wilt slightly in his seat. She shrugged off Kim's arms and went to the kitchen to search for something she could use as a makeshift split.

Kim stood where Shego had a moment earlier, her arms crossed as she stared down at him. "Drakken," Kim began in a serious voice. "Tell us everything you know."

"Not until you promise to help me!" Drakken countered.

"Fine," Shego grumbled as she returned from the laundry room, a broken broom handle and a towel torn into strips held tightly in her hand. "What do you need from us?" she asked as she began splinting Drakken's wrist.

Drakken silently watched Shego as she worked. As she finished and stood, he stared closely at Kim and Shego both for a moment before puffing up a little to his request. "I want you two to rescue Sheegsy."

"You want us to break Sheegsy out of GJ prison?" Shego yelled incredulously. "Are you out of your fucking mind? There's no way I'm going to commit another crime for you. I just got a pardon!"

"Pardon?" Kim asked in surprise.

Shego nodded over to the manila folder sitting on the coffee table in the living room. "It's there," Shego remarked wearily. "Full unconditional pardon. Something Betts wanted to give to me, but she's gone now…"

"Gone?"

"Disappeared…" Shego glowered at Drakken. "I've already wasted the last three years of my life being your crony and the last thing I want to do is throw everything that I have now away so that you and Sheegsy can…"

"Wait!" Drakken interrupted her as the shock of her statements wore off, "She's no longer under Global Justice's jurisdiction… Colonel Thropy, her people, they… They took her away."

"Miss A?" Shego and Kim echoed together. "Why?"

"Because…" Drakken pulled at his collar nervously. "Because of what she is… She's a successful clone…"

"What does Miss A want with a successful clone?" Shego asked suspiciously.

"It's… Part of the reason why Director Grant is interested in you," Drakken offered meekly. "And how I know Colonel Thropy. You knew me when I was a budding mad scientist trying to take over the world, right? But before that, I was just a scientist working for the military…"

"Get to the point!" Shego ordered.

"One of the things I was working on was Project Kismet," Drakken began, casting nervous glances at Shego. "It was a program to map and record the brainwaves of a human test subject. The potential was endless, we could do things like treat PTSD, Alzheimer's and a variety of brain-deteriorating syndromes just by simply copying the brainwaves back into the human test subject and…"

"Wait a fucking god damn minute here, Drew…" Shego cut him off with a snarl. "You're telling me that you made a fucking copy of my mind and gave it to Sheegsy?"

"Ah… Maybe?" Drakken offered weakly. He winced as Shego raised her fist to give him a few more additional bruises to his face where the skin still looked untouched.

"Wait a minute," Kim placed her hand on Shego's and gently pried her fist open, unconsciously tangling her fingers with the older woman's. "So what does Director Grant want with that technology, and how would grabbing Sheegsy help, and what does Shego have to do with all of this?"

"If you promise not to hit me…" Drakken said in a surprisingly even tone, his eyes filled with an unusual mix of strength and fear. Much to his chagrin, Shego only grunted, showing no signs of absolving him from any further pain. He sighed and continued, "After finishing my work on Kismet, I found out the real purpose of the project… Which brings me to Colonel Thropy… Parallel to the project, the military had been trying to physiologically enhance their solders, make them stronger, faster, invulnerable, with rapid cell regeneration to quickly recover-…"

"Like every other military in the world," Shego interrupted as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, and they've succeeded," Drakken explained, his voice starting to rise in pitch as he spoke faster. "Through the use of… Various techniques, including nanobots, recombinant gene modification from some of my early work on clones as well as others, they… They managed to stimulate the necessary hormone glands in the body to enhance the necessary growth factors, to build strength, speed and faster regeneration."

"Don't tell me," Shego muttered, "You had a hand in the nanobots, too?"

"Yes," Drakken admitted easily, "And some of the cloning work… The nanobots were only used in the first stage, however, to modify and 'fix' some deficiencies, then were flushed… But it was more than enough. The modifications kept the soldiers on the edge, in top fighting condition… With one fatal drawback…" He fell silent for a moment as he took a deep breath. "The changes to the body came with huge psychological stress. Symptoms were increased aggression, disobedience and psychosis in the test subjects..."

"So the project was a huge failure?" Kim asked, finally realizing that she had grasped Shego's fingers. Feeling the older woman preparing to let go and strike at Drakken, she increased her grip, keeping the older woman's hand firmly in her own. She almost winced as Shego squeezed her hand harder as she tried to keep her anger in check.

"Not entirely," Drakken conceded with a sigh. "They had five quasi-viable test subjects… And then Colonel Thropy volunteered, and became the most viable, indeed, the only successful subject…"

"Quasi-viable? Succesful?" Shego raised her voice furiously. "That fucking batshit insane _bitch_ is _viable_?"

Drakken squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "The last of the quasi-viable subjects was killed by Colonel Thropy five years ago…" Drakken said softly, shaking his head. "His loyalty was to his military oath, not the group that had… Arranged for this… He tried to live up to that oath, and ended up taking a store in Go City hostage with a bomb strapped to his chest… He carried a hard drive with all the data out with him… His name was Simmons, and he was a good soldi-…"

"What?" Shego's growled question made Drakken's head shoot up. "About six feet tall, maybe two hundred twenty, sandy blonde hair, hazel eyes, good looking if he didn't look half crazy?" Shego asked with an intensity that frightened Drakken and Kim both, her hand squeezing Kim's painfully.

"Shego!" Kim called out, squeezing back hard. Shego glanced at her, relenting her grip enough that it was no longer painful. "Let him speak!" she pleaded with the mint-hued woman, who nodded and glanced back at Drakken.

"Well?" She asked simply.

"I… Yes, that was him…" At Drakken's simple declaration, Shego seemed to deflate, and Kim had to let go of the older woman's hand to put a supporting arm around her.

"No…" Shego whispered, starting to zone out as memories flooded back into her conciousness, before Drakken's next words snapped her back to reality.

"He was actually about three hundred and ten pounds… Part of the process made his muscles and bones denser… He was almost as strong as a chimpanzee, which are about one hundred percent stronger than humans." He glanced at his mint-hued former employee as another growl started in the back of her throat, his pleading, surprisingly calm words somehow helping her to keep her anger in check.

"Shego… I don't know what bearing that information has on what I'm telling you, but that's what I was told about it. I was slated for… Decommissioning, along with the rest of those involved in the project. Except, apparently, for Colonel Thropy. Her psyche was least affected by the changes to her body and she has, obviously, been active on the field since. But the other twenty-seven were institutionalized, and those kind of statistics deemed the project a failure."

"Then what does that have to do with Kismet?" Shego asked dangerously.

"Project Kismet was supposedly a workaround for that problem," Drakken remarked. "It was supposed to reinsert the entirety of the soldier's psychological profiles, their memories, to be blunt, back into their bodies _after_ they had gone through the physical upgrades…"

"Fuck…" Shego let the curse leave her lips. "So Grant wants to make supersoldiers. Why?"

Drakken could only shrug a little, as he held onto his broken hand carefully. "Who knows? To take over the world?"

"So where do I come in then, beyond the fact that this project took something more important than my own life from me." Shego asked, not sure if she would like the answer to that question.

"Ah… Did you ever wonder why I paid you so much?" Drakken asked cautiously. "Or why you were doing jobs that were nowhere close to worth the amount I was paying you?"

"The thought did cross my mind…"

"Before I was slated for decommissioning, I stole the data for Kismet and made it look like a virus had destroyed everything back on the military mainframe," Drakken began sweating, realizing that despite everything, Shego was still his physical superior, and could hurt him easily if he angered her. "But I needed a place to hide the data for the project… I took an ad out in the paper, not knowing about the underground, the In-Terror-Net, or any of that… And your contract only said no cloning, and with the threat of both hero teams and the government…"

"Don't tell me you fucking did it…" Shego's eyes opened wide as realization struck her. "You didn't…" She could feel Kim quickly wrapping her arms around her waist to stop her from committing murder and mutilation in Ron's living room.

"It was the safest place?" Drakken offered weakly as he coughed. "Besides no one would suspect that I had used memory engrams to store state secrets in your head…" He yelped in pain as Shego threw a bolt of plasma that singed his legs, leaving a trail of wispy black smoke. "I'm sorry! I didn't know where else to…"

"Sheila," Kim tried to calm the older woman down, wrapping her arms around Shego's so the older woman could not use more of her plasma on the injured man.

"So now you're telling me the whole reason that Grant wants me is that he wants to cut into my fucking head to read _your_ science project?" Shego screeched in fury. She struggled to break an arm free from Kim's grasp, loosening the red-head's grip enough to point at her own head. She would have lunged at Drakken and tore his throat out with her teeth if she had to, but Kim kept on pulling her back, while pleading with her to remain calm.

"You're not the only one in danger!" Drakken raised his indignant voice, after he was decently sure that Kim had got the older woman under control. "They've got Sheegsy now and Colonel Thropy almost captured me! If not for Stoppable…" He angled his head towards Kim.

"What?" The mention of Ron got Kim's attention as she suddenly looked at him with deadly intent. Even Shego stopped her struggling, as the two women scrutinized Drakken closely. Kim breathily asked, "What did Ron do?"

"He bumped into Colonel Thropy when that… Monstrosity was dragging me into the hangar and stopped her from kidnapping me," Drakken explained worriedly, rubbing the side of his forehead. "I was still groggy when she dropped me on the floor and fought Stoppable…"

"Wait… She fought Ron? Alone?" Shego asked in horror, the fact that Drakken had remembered Ron's name barely registering on her confused, infuriated mind.

"Yes… He told me to run, to, quote, 'Get the hell out of here, Dr. D!', unquote…"

"And you just left him to fight her alone?" Shego screamed, lighting up her freed hand. "Let me go, Kimmie, I'm goin-…"

"Stop it, Sheila!" Kim pleaded, finally grasping Shego by the mid forearm and pulling the threatening hand down. "I'm sure he has a reason!" She turned her head from Shego to Drakken, her jade green eyes intense as she continued. "He'd better…"

"I do…" Drakken offered in a strangely contrite tone. "I'm not proud, but I… I helped to create her, I know what she's capable of at full strength, and she claims to have been given just that." At Shego and Kim's confused glare, he sighed. "To make sure she was fully in their control, her handlers in the government… Lessened her… Dropped her to roughly sixty-five to seventy percent of full capability…"

"But… That means…" Shego whispered, a horrified, open mouth stare replacing her angry glare she had held a moment earlier.

"It means that despite Stoppable's… Startlingly increased capabilities, and strength…" The sudden confusion in Kim and Shego's eyes gave Drakken pause, and he sighed, explaining what he had seen to them. "Shego, Miss Possible… He was leaving craters in reinforced concrete walls and deep dents in bullet resistant, reinforced doors… He put his arm _through_ a thirty pound chunk of concrete she threw at him… And she _still_ defeated him. Obviously, or he would be here." Drakken sighed as Kim's expression darkened, and Shego's began to cloud over again. "Um, pardon the callous sound of this but… Is he alive? Or alright if he is?"

"He's in a coma no thanks to you!" Kim growled, and Shego now found herself containing Kim, barely stopping the red-head from lunging at Drakken.

"I told you, Miss Possible," Drakken said in a surprisingly even tone, "That he asked me to escape… I made the same suggestion back, but he shook his head, and waved at me to go… And I'm no fighter, as I'm sure you and Shego know all too well." He wiped gingerly at his face with his free hand. "I'm almost glad that he's hidden so much of his capabilities away… I don't understand why, but he has… Luckily for all of your foes," Drakken added with an almost clinical detachment. "He managed to hurt her before I got out of earshot, and as I mentioned, he was putting craters into reinforced concrete walls. Nonetheless, Colonel Thropy redirected or dodged almost all of the strikes I saw him deliver… I couldn't imagine what would happen if he unleashed that on a normal person."

"What are you talk-…" Kim started, but Shego interrupted her.

"At the warehouse, Kimmie…" Shego whispered, "He dropped over forty feet from the skylight we came in through without harm, and he kicked ANThropy hard enough to throw her twenty feet through the air and _dent_ a shipping container…"

"Yes," Drakken agreed, "I could see him capable of that now… But, to continue… After I got away from the battle, I managed to crawl away and escape in one of the hoverjets… I honestly thought he'd try to escape, considering his normal role with your team, Miss Possible…"

"Damn you, Drakken!" Kim howled, slipping from Shego's slack grip and landing a good left cross to his jaw. The blow wrenched his head hard sideways, her blow hard enough o have split her knuckles. Drakken whimpered in pain as he nursed his sore jaw, shying as far away as he possibly could in his seat from the vengeful woman. Kim's booming voice echoed throughout the house, "It's bad enough that you didn't bother to help, but you abandoned him without even _trying_ to let anyone know? Ron's almost dead because he saved your sorry ass, you ungrateful, _bastard_! I'm going to beat the living shit out of you and I'm going to…"

"Kimmie!" Shego raised her voice as she quickly wrapped both arms around the younger woman, restraining her arms again and pulling her back across the living room. It was a vicious struggle; Kim trying to reach Drakken with all her strength and pummel him to pieces, while Shego fought her own instincts to do the same as well as trying to stop Kim from hurting the beaten, near defenseless. "Kimmie, that's _enough_, he gets it!" Kim screamed into her ear, finally getting the older woman's attention.

"Sheila…" Kim muttered as she turned to the woman she regarded as her best friend with teary eyes. With a pained voice, she cried out in despair, "Ron's almost dead and it was all for your piece of shit ex-boss… And _he_ left him there to die…"

"Shh… Calm down, Pumpkin," Shego cooed gently as she stroked the younger woman's back. The older woman leaned her head down, burying her face into Kim's hair and bit down hard on her lip. The pain was a brief, but welcome relief to the torrent of emotions threatening to drown her.

"It's just not fair…" Kim whispered to herself between sobs. "Just not… Fair…"

"I know…" Shego grimaced as they held onto each other tightly. "I know…" Shego glared at Drakken for a moment, who had the decency to look away, shame clearly visible in his hunched frame…

* * *

Shego sat numbly in the front passenger seat while Kim drove her car, the Sloth, to the hospital. The older woman was leaning her head against the window, casting her eyes to the sky deep in thought. She was confused, torn and hurting, and she had no way of seeing the end of the pain. The conversations between Du and Drakken had been bad enough, but having to hold back Kim, the last person she had expected to attack an injured man, bothered her. For more reasons than were readily apparent, or that she was prepared to admit to herself…

"Sheila…" Kim finally broke the silence, drawing Shego's gaze to her own. "I'm sorry for… lashing out like that…" Shego nodded with a noncommittal grunt, knowing that she would have done the same had the situation been even slightly different. "Look… Is it okay if Drakken stays at Ron's place for now? He's got no place to go, and I'm not sure if we should hand him over to GJ seeing how everything has suddenly changed… And... If that's not alright, I'll talk to my mom and see if he can stay at our place…"

"Mmm…" Shego mumbled as she turned away from Kim and looked at the streets passing by. "I don't care…"

"It's up to Jean and Ethan, of course, but if not there, but like I said, my parents might put him up…" Kim sighed as Shego shrugged listlessly in response. Shaking her head despondently, she gently turned the steering wheel, guiding her car into the hospital grounds. "C'mon Sheila, I know things are bad now. But mom said that Ron's doing much better… His vitals picked up this morning and he's definitely mending…" She found a parking spot and brought her car to a complete stop before pulling on the handbrake.

Shego only let out a guttural grunt of assent as she unbuckled the seat belt and opened the car door. She barely gave Kim a glance as she got out of the car and slammed the door shut. After making sure her car doors were locked, Kim dropped the keys in her purse and hurried along on the heels of the raven-haired woman who briskly walked towards the hospital entrance.

"Sheila…" Kim called after her. "I miss Ron as much as you, too. He's my boyfriend, you know?"

Turning on her heels to look at the red-head, Shego let out a long-drawn sigh. "Kimmie… It's just… I don't know… I can't forget about it or move on… Ron's up there, lying in bed and no one knows for damn sure when he's gonna wake up again." Shego viciously stabbed her finger in the direction of the hospital. "I'm not sure if I can trust myself to hold back against Drakken until I know that Ron's all okay again."

"I know, but" Kim started, only to be interrupted by Shego pointing a finger at her.

"And what about you?" She queried, "Can you trust yourself? I'm not the only one that tried to attack him, and you succeeded!"

"I…" Kim started, then looked down in shame, making Shego regret her hurtful accusation, "I know, Sheila… But… We'll have to try… And we're going to have to rescue Sheegsy," Kim added, her tone soft and hurting as much as Shego's.

"Why bother?" Shego sighed tiredly. "Drakken can just clone another one of her…"

"That's a very selfish thing to say," Kim shook her head, letting her own anger show. "After all the times you got angry because someone cloned you, and your solution to this problem is just to clone someone else…"

"So what do you want me to do?" Shego retorted.

"Save her! Save Sheegsy! After all, from your own mouth, she _is_ your sister!" Kim shot back.

Shego stood there numbly in the hospital parking lot as she gazed upwards at the room she supposed must be Ron's. "I don't know if I want to," Shego said softly.

"Why not?"

"I'm just sick and tired of screwing up," Shego replied as her voice started rising in frustration. "Just so… Sick and tired of fucking up every single goddamn thing in my fucking life!"

"Sheila," Kim reached out and touched her shoulder. "C'mon, you don't mean that. You know that if it were you in her position, you would want her to come and rescue you. She's your sister, and seems to look up to you…"

"Dammit," Shego cursed again. "Look, I can't even save Ron, what makes you think I can save Sheegsy?"

"You saved Ron, remember?" Kim barked at her. "Your first aid when he started bleeding in that corridor saved his life! Mom, the ER doc, even the Army medics said as much. Besides, Sheegsy's counting on you."

"I… Look, I'll think about it after we visit Ron," Shego offered. "I just want to see him first…"

"Sure, me too, Sheila," Kim nodded her head. The two women started walking towards the front doors of the hospital, when suddenly there was a commotion and two nurses and several security guards ran out the entrance and started looking around the front of the building.

Startled, they hurried towards the reception and saw the tall, elderly head nurse there yelling into the phone. "I don't care whether you have to change the bed pans or not, I want every spare member of the staff not in trauma care, critical care, surgery, or surgery prep searching right now!" She listened to the phone for a moment, before raising her loud voice even further, "I don't care! This is an emergency! A patient from the critical care unit _can't_ just slip out from under our noses!"

Glancing at each other, Shego and Kim started to have a nagging feeling in their hearts that their day was about to get worse. As one, they broke into a run for the elevator. Stabbing the button frantically, they waited for the elevator to arrive before Shego suddenly broke to the left and pushed open the door to the emergency stairwell.

Kim followed suit, bounding after the older woman two steps at a time as they raced for the fifth floor where Ron's room was. As they sprinted down the hallway, they almost ran into a nurse who yelled at them, but the two barely stopped to apologize. Fear gripped Kim's heart as she rounded the corner to Ron's room and saw Mr and Mrs. Stoppable standing outside Ron's room, next to her mom and another bald doctor who was trying his best to calm them down.

"Where the hell is my little boy?" Jean Stoppable raised her voice in despair.

"Ma'am, I assure you, we are doing everything we can to find him…" the bald doctor tried to talk her down, just as Kim and Shego reached the group.

"What happened?" Shego asked, as she panted breathlessly. "What's going on?"

"Ron's gone…" Anne Possible said slowly.

"Gone?" Shego felt her knees go weak. Slumping, she reached out to place a hand against the wall to steady herself, before echoing numbly, "What do you mean gone?"

"Look, Miss," the bald doctor tried to reassert control of the situation by showing that he is in charge. "I'm talking to the parents of the patient, and I must insist that this is a private matter for family…"

"Ian," Anne replied coldly. "I think you better answer her question, or else you will find yourself down in the ER pretty quick."

"Uh… Anne…" the bald doctor, Ian, stammered as he glanced nervously at her. "This is a family matter…"

"Just tell us what happened?" Kim pleaded as she held Shego's hand, fearing the worse.

"Miss…" Ian started before he was aware that five pairs of eyes were looking at him with cold-blooded murder on their minds.

"Dr. Mason," Jean said firmly, "Kim is his boyfriend, and Sheila is basically part of the family, don't draw this out any more than it has to be!" Shego opened her mouth to protest, but a sharp look from Jean silenced her as Dr. Mason relented, glancing nervously between his patient's family and friends.

"Okay… It's like this… I did my rounds this morning about nine fifteen A.M., and I tended to Ron Stoppable in here. When the nurse came in to check on him at ten A.M., he was missing…"

"Missing?" Kim echoed. "As in?"

"We have no idea," Ian shrugged helplessly. "We've raised the alarm already, but no one has seen anyone wheeling any patient out of this hospital… In fact, he has got to be in this hospital and…"

"Ian, tell me how is a patient that is placed in a chemically induced coma able to get out of bed and play hide and seek with the hospital staff!" Anne demanded, letting a little bit of anger seep into her otherwise professional demeanor. "Nurse Dhatri confirmed the dosage and comatose state when I got her-…"

"I don't know and that's what we intend to find out…" Ian interrupted as he nervously started pacing.

"Excuse me, if I may…" A tall, tanned Japanese man said softly as he stepped from Ron's room, his accent barely noticeable. He wore his hair in an impeccably wild style, a leather jacket that was unzipped over a tailored set of dark blue dress shirt and black slacks, as well as what appeared to be engineer's boots. As he raised his head, Kim suddenly let out a small gasp.

"Hirotaka!"

"Yamada-san!"

Kim and Shego looked in surprise at Jean. "You know this asshole?" Shego immediately questioned, as she sized up the new interloper. "Yamada-san?"

"He… Ah…" Jean glanced over at Ethan briefly before letting her eyes settle on Hirotaka. "He's a friend… Of the family…"

"But… But… You went to my school!" Kim burst out in anger, as she stepped up to the calm and collected man who hardly batted an eyelid. "When Ron went to Ya-… You're Yamanouchi?" Hirotaka looked at Kim levelly, his neutral, half-smirking expression not giving her a satisfactory answer, "If you're not, then who the hell are you with?"

"That's exactly what I want to know too…" Shego muttered to herself as she cracked her knuckles, hoping that tearing the slight smirk from off his face would bring some kind of release from the stress building up within her.

"Hold on, Shego, Kim," Jean placed both hands on their shoulders and pulled their tensed bodies back. Ignoring the two fuming women, she looked closely at Hirotaka and asked softly, "If you are here, then you must have something to do with my boy's disappearance…"

Hirotaka gave a slight nod in silence, before remarking casually. "The transfer papers are in the good doctor's office, and anything I may have to say should not be so… Public." He glanced around to settle his point to them, before slipping back into the ICU room.

"Ian, check that, if you would?" Anne asked in a strained tone, and Ian excused himself to confirm the Japanese man's claim, hurrying towards the elevators.

"Is he okay?" Jean asked as she closed the door behind her as Kim, Shego, Anne, and Ethan formed a semi-circle around the young man occupying their attention.

"He will be," Hirotaka nodded his head again. "Master Sensei sends his regards and gives his assurance that Ronald-sama would be extended the best medical treatment that Yamanouchi can offer."

"Oh… Thank god…" Jean finally breathed a sigh of relief as she turned towards her husband and embraced him, finally feeling a great weight lifted from her shoulders. Turning to the man, she thanked him. "I know you'll do the best you can for Ron, thank you."

"Hold up a minute here!" Shego hollered as she stabbed her finger inches away from Hirotaka's face who barely even flinched from the intrusion of personal space. "I want to know who the Hell this guy is, I want to know where the Hell Ron is, and I want to know what some prep school in rural Japan can do that the highest tech hospital within fifteen-hundred miles _can't_!"

"Shego, Kim," Jean finally breathed with relief. "It's okay… Ron's going to be okay…"

"How do you know that?" Shego asked loudly. Shego continued after a brief pause, her voice desperate and frightened. "How the hell am I suppose to know anything if no one fucking tells me what's going on? I want to see Ron, and I want to see him now!"

"Ron's at the Yamanouchi school…" Kim said evenly, her eyes narrowing at Hirotaka, "After all, that's where Ron went last year for his student exchange program, but it's a lot more, isn't it, Hiro?"

"Great, let's go…" Shego muttered as she gave Hirotaka a dirty glare. "Where is it?"

"It's…" Kim's shoulders slumped a little. "It's in Japan. I'm not sure where…"

"Fine," Shego sneered. "Just call in a favor and have Wade fin-…"

"Shego-san… If I may interrupt," Hirotaka spoke calmly, too calmly for Shego's liking, cutting her tirade short. "Ronald-sama did ask me to leave you two a message."

"What message?" Kim and Shego asked in unison, earning a raised eyebrow from Anne and Jean both.

"He left this note for you…" Hirotaka lifted a small folded piece of paper from his pocket, and before anyone could say anything, Shego suddenly lunged forward grabbed his collar with her right hand and shoved him into the room's instrument wall, sending an oxygen cannula and several body monitoring attachments flying. She cocked her cocking her other elbow beneath his chin and applied just enough pressure that the strange Asian man would start to feel his airway being cut off.

"Shego!" Kim screeched in horror. "Let go of him!"

"No!" Shego gritted her teeth as she glared daggers into the unflinching man. "He's lying! He's been telling us nothing but lies ever since he got here! There's _no way_ Ron could have left us a note; he was in a chemically induced coma…" Growling throatily, she demanded, "I want some answers now! Who the fuck are you? And where did you take Ron?"

With barely a show of effort, Hirotaka gripped her hand and pushed it aside, lithely slipping out of her chokehold. He quickly took a step back and gently rubbed his neck. "Perhaps, I should make myself clearer, Shego-san…" Hirotaka spoke with a bow. "Even though Ronald-sama, as you and Possible-san say, is in a chemically induced coma, the brain is still alive, functioning and most importantly, communicating."

"That's not possible… All higher brain functions are suppressed in a chemically induced coma…" Anne replied, with an odd look on her face.

Hirotaka just gave a shrug, "Maybe you're right. But Ronald-sama has been communicating with Master Sensei, and it has been decided between the both of them that it is best for him to seek the care and hospitality of Yamanuchi."

"Communicate how?" Kim asked.

"I… Don't know," Hirotaka faltered a little. "It is only a technique known by the masters who have transcended their mortal flesh."

"C'mon, Kim!" Shego raised her voice angrily. "You seriously can't be buying this bullshit! He's clearly hiding something and spoon-feeding us all this crap and he's lying through his teeth…"

"Maybe if you would give me a chance," Hirotaka again proffered the folded note, "You'll find that these are really Ronald-sama's words."

"Fine!" Shego snatched the note out of his fingers, and opened in carefully. Her eyes scanned down the page and read.

_To Kim and Shego, _

_I'm sorry for leaving without goodbye, but I really have to go. My training has been incomplete, and because of that, I couldn't be the sidekick you hope me to be. Master Sensei says I must overcome by myself if I'm gonna be whole again. They'll also be finishing my training, I guess… But I have to ask you the hardest thing I've ever asked: do _not_ come looking for me. I can't tell you why, but it's important, okay? I'll be fine, I promise! Besides, Rufus is here with me and he'll make sure I'm ok. I will call you as soon as I am better. _

_Shego, I have never asked anything of you, but for this one. Please take care of Kim, and promise me that you'll watch her back for me. I trust you. _

_Ron_

"It's Ron, isn't it…" Kim whispered softly, as she blinked twice at the note in Shego's hands. "With Rufus' handwriting…"

"Yeah…" Shego tilted her head back and inhaled deeply, letting her shoulders slump a little. She blinked hard and tried her best to fight down the bitterness in her throat.

"So when is he coming back?" Kim asked Hirotaka, "What's going on that he can't tell us, huh?"

"Kim-san, I do not know the answer to that."

"At least, he's going to be okay, right?"

"I… I truly don't know. That, you will have to ask him, when you see him."

"Sheila? Mom?" Kim asked, turning from Hirotaka, looking for an answer that neither woman could give. She rushed forward and buried her face in Anne's shoulder, sobbing as she asked, "What… Why doesn't Ron want us to look for him?"

The question struck a deep chord in Shego, and she found herself turning away, tears of her own fighting for release as she asked herself the same question…

* * *

**Authors' Notes**

Alright, first off, the both of us have to apologize… But we do have at least passable reasons for the delays. For one, Noob has been sickeningly busy with work, and unfortunately, his work involves a _lot_ of writing, and not the fun, entertaining kind the both of us like to deliver to you, the readers. Dry and often near novella, and in some cases, full blown novel size technical, boring tripe. On top of it, he's been working often six and a half, or even seven days a week. Kinda hard to enjoy writing for entertainment when it's also your job, and you have no chance to write for your own entertainment.

And kgs-wy is guilty of work related delays as well. He's a car audio/video entertainment and security installer, working on average six days a week at longer than banker hours. In other words, in before nine AM, off after six PM. And it's both physically and mentally demanding work, to boot.

Granted, these could be looked at as excuses, but they're very solid reasons for the delays in the works coming out. However, we've gotten this done, and most of Book 3 plotted out, some sections of the first few chapters actually written. Unfortunately, the linking of those chapters, and some of the minor, but very, _very_ important parts of those chapters, have yet to be written.

As well, chapter six of Mismatched is over 70% done, and chapters seven and eight (of eight or nine chapters…) are plotted out. So, hopefully, we'll have Mismatched done before Christmas, and Book 3 well under say. :3 Anyway, here's to everyone hopefully enjoying the outro for The Human Element, Book 2, and to everyone hopefully enjoying what we have in store for you in Book 3. It's gonna be one Hell of a ride!


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